State / UT
Goa
Goa is the smallest Indian state by area and among the smallest by population, admitted as the Republic's 25th state on 30 May 1987 after twenty-five years as a Union Territory formed out of territory taken from Portuguese rule in December 1961. It governs itself through a unicameral 40-member Legislative Assembly at Porvorim and sends two members to the Lok Sabha and one to the Rajya Sabha, giving it the thinnest parliamentary weight of any full state. Its economic weight is inverse to its size: a per capita GSDP of roughly Rs 6.75 lakh in 2023-24 is among the highest of any state and roughly double the national average, and it funds about 71% of its revenue receipts from its own resources rather than central transfers. Structurally it is distinctive for retaining the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 after 1961, making it the only Indian state governed by a common civil code rather than religion-specific personal laws.
Updated
- Capital
- Panaji
- Formed
- 30 May 1987 as a state; Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu from 1962
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Goa Legislative Assembly, 40 seats, seated at Porvorim
- Lok Sabha seats
- 2 (North Goa, South Goa); Rajya Sabha: 1
- Population (2011 Census)
- 14,58,545
- Area
- 3,702 sq km — smallest state in the Republic
- Districts
- 3 — North Goa, South Goa and Kushavati (created 2025)
- Electors
- 10,72,006 across 40 constituencies (CEO Goa, 1 July 2026)
- GSDP
- Rs 1.39 lakh crore (2025-26 budget estimate)
- Official language
- Konkani in Devanagari script
Role
Goa is the Republic’s smallest state by area and one of its smallest by population, and its institutional weight runs opposite to its size. It governs through a unicameral 40-member Legislative Assembly seated at Porvorim — one of the smallest legislatures of any full state — and sends two members to the Lok Sabha and one to the Rajya Sabha, which gives it the thinnest voice in Parliament of any state in the Union. That arithmetic has a direct governing consequence: in a 40-seat house, a majority turns on twenty-one members, and small shifts in membership have repeatedly been sufficient to reconstitute governments between general elections. The state runs the standard State List portfolio — police and law and order, land and revenue, agriculture, health, school education and local government — across three revenue districts, a structure changed at the end of 2025 when the talukas of Quepem, Sanguem, Dharbandora and Canacona were separated from South Goa to form the new district of Kushavati, the first such reorganisation since statehood in 1987.
What makes Goa structurally distinctive is not any Article 371 provision — it has none — but two inheritances and one court judgment. The first inheritance is legal: the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 was retained after 1961 rather than displaced by India’s religion-specific personal laws, making Goa the only state in the Union where marriage, succession and matrimonial property are governed by a single common civil code, a fact regularly invoked in national debate over a uniform civil code. The second is fiscal: with a per capita GSDP of roughly Rs 6.75 lakh in 2023-24 — among the highest of any state and about double the national average — and roughly 71% of revenue receipts raised from its own resources, Goa depends less on central transfers than most states, which shapes its bargaining position with the Centre despite its negligible parliamentary numbers. The judgment is the Supreme Court’s order of 7 February 2018 quashing the second renewal of 88 iron-ore mining leases and requiring fresh allocation by competitive bidding; it removed the legal basis of the state’s largest extractive industry at a stroke and forced the state government into the role of auctioneer of its own mineral base. The resulting economy is, on the state’s own budget numbers, manufacturing-weighted rather than tourism-weighted — manufacturing 52% of gross value added against services at 42% in 2022-23 — a composition at odds with the state’s popular image.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- official
Portuguese rule ends; territory passes to the Indian Union
Indian forces took Goa, along with Daman and Diu, ending four and a half centuries of Portuguese administration. The state government's own portal dates its modern existence from this liberation. The Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 was retained rather than replaced by Indian personal law — the decision that still defines Goa's legal distinctiveness.
- reference
The Opinion Poll — the only referendum held in independent India
Voters were asked whether the Union Territory should merge with Maharashtra or continue as a separate territory. They chose to remain separate, foreclosing absorption into a larger neighbour and preserving the territorial basis on which statehood was granted twenty years later.
- reference
Official Language Act makes Konkani the sole official language
Konkani in the Devanagari script was made the official language, with Marathi permitted for official purposes — the settlement of a long-running language dispute that had been entangled with the merger question decided in 1967. Konkani was later added to the Constitution's Eighth Schedule.
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Statehood: Goa becomes the Republic's 25th state
The Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was bifurcated. Goa was carved out as a full state with a 40-seat legislative assembly and two Lok Sabha seats; Daman and Diu continued as a separate Union Territory. The date is observed as the state's founding.
- reference
Supreme Court quashes the second renewal of 88 iron-ore mining leases
The Court held that the State of Goa's decision to grant second renewals was 'erroneous, contrary to the decision in Goa Foundation and must be and is quashed', ruling that fresh leases should have been allocated by competitive bidding rather than renewed. The judgment dismantled the leasing basis of the state's largest extractive industry and forced a shift to an auction regime.
- official
Eighth Legislative Assembly constituted
The 40-member house returned at the 2022 general election to the assembly. Goa's small house size means single-figure shifts in membership change which combination can command a majority, and the state has repeatedly seen governments reconstituted between elections.
- reference
State economy recorded as manufacturing-weighted, not tourism-weighted
PRS analysis of the state budget put GSDP at Rs 1,21,309 crore for 2024-25 and recorded the 2022-23 sectoral composition as manufacturing 52%, services 42% and agriculture 6%, with per capita GSDP of Rs 5,96,260 in 2022-23. Own resources funded 71% of revenue receipts and outstanding liabilities were estimated at 22% of GSDP.
- official
Kushavati created as Goa's third district
The talukas of Quepem, Sanguem, Dharbandora and Canacona were separated from South Goa to form a third revenue district — the first change to Goa's two-district structure since statehood. The state portal describes Kushavati as 'the newest district of Goa' and records its collectorate as still functioning from the South Goa collectorate at Margao pending a new administration.
- official
Electoral roll: 10.72 lakh electors across three districts
The Chief Electoral Officer's state profile records 10,72,006 electors — 5,18,333 male, 5,53,664 female and 9 third gender — across 40 assembly constituencies and 1,731 polling stations, now distributed as North Goa 19, South Goa 16 and Kushavati 5. Female electors outnumber male electors at 1,068 per 1,000.
Frequently asked
- What is Goa?
- Goa is the smallest Indian state by area and among the smallest by population, admitted as the Republic's 25th state on 30 May 1987 after twenty-five years as a Union Territory formed out of territory taken from Portuguese rule in December 1961. It governs itself through a unicameral 40-member Legislative Assembly at Porvorim and sends two members to the Lok Sabha and one to the Rajya Sabha, giving it the thinnest parliamentary weight of any full state. Its economic weight is inverse to its size: a per capita GSDP of roughly Rs 6.75 lakh in 2023-24 is among the highest of any state and roughly double the national average, and it funds about 71% of its revenue receipts from its own resources rather than central transfers. Structurally it is distinctive for retaining the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 after 1961, making it the only Indian state governed by a common civil code rather than religion-specific personal laws.
- When was Goa established?
- Goa was established 30 May 1987.
- What does Goa do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order, police, land and revenue, agriculture, health, school education, local government, Administration of a retained Portuguese-era civil code, uniquely displacing religion-specific personal law in matters of marriage, succession and matrimonial property, Regulation of an iron-ore mining economy reconstituted by Supreme Court order into an auction-based leasing regime, A manufacturing-weighted state economy (pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, industrial estates) alongside tourism, ports and inland waterways, Konkani-medium official business under the Official Language Act, with Marathi permitted for official purposes.
- What is the latest on Goa?
- As of 2026-07-17: Electoral roll: 10.72 lakh electors across three districts. The Chief Electoral Officer's state profile records 10,72,006 electors — 5,18,333 male, 5,53,664 female and 9 third gender — across 40 assembly constituencies and 1,731 polling stations, now distributed as North Goa 19, South Goa 16 and Kushavati 5. Female electors outnumber male electors at 1,068 per 1,000.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Departments, orders, notifications and the state's own account of its formation and administration.
www.goa.gov.in/
- Goa Legislative Assembly legislation
The unicameral house; currently the Eighth Legislative Assembly, constituted 2022. Secretariat at Alto-Porvorim.
goavidhansabha.gov.in/
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Electoral rolls and the state profile: 40 assembly constituencies, 3 districts, 1,731 polling stations.
ceogoa.nic.in/
- Districts of Goa department
Official listing of North Goa, South Goa and the newly created Kushavati district.
goa.gov.in/districts/
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GSDP, deficit, debt and receipts; independent legislative research.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/goa-budget-analysis-2025-26