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State / UT

Gujarat

Gujarat is a state of the Indian Union formed on 1 May 1960, when the Bombay Reorganisation Act split the former Bombay State along linguistic lines into Gujarat and Maharashtra. It carried a population of 6.04 crore at the 2011 Census — about 5% of India — sends 26 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha, and is governed through a unicameral 182-seat Legislative Assembly seated at Gandhinagar, with a projected Gross State Domestic Product of Rs 29.82 lakh crore in 2025-26. Two structural features set it apart within the federation: it has enforced alcohol prohibition under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 continuously since the day it was created, one of only four states to do so; and it hosts GIFT City, the site of India's first International Financial Services Centre and the seat of the Union's IFSC regulator. It also has the longest coastline of any Indian state, which makes it a frontline maritime and border state as well as an industrial one.

Updated

Gujarat
Trikkiboy · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Capital
Gandhinagar (capital since 1970; previously Ahmedabad)
Formed
1 May 1960, under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960
Legislature
Unicameral — Gujarat Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), 182 seats, five-year term
Lok Sabha seats
26
Rajya Sabha seats
11
Population (2011 Census)
6,04,39,692 (6.04 crore) — 4.99% of India; 42.6% urban
Districts
34 (most recently Vav-Tharad, 2025)
GSDP (2025-26 BE)
Rs 29,82,032 crore at current prices; fiscal deficit targeted at 2% of GSDP
Prohibition
In force statewide since 1960; limited GIFT City exemption from December 2023
Coverage since 196010 recorded events ·100% from official & primary sources
1960–1964: 1 event19601970–1974: 1 event1970198019902000–2004: 1 event20002010–2014: 1 event20102015–2019: 1 event2020–2024: 4 events20202025–2026: 1 event

Role

Gujarat is one of the Republic’s federal actors: a state created by Parliament in 1960 out of the linguistic bifurcation of Bombay State, and governed since through a unicameral 182-seat Legislative Assembly at Gandhinagar and a Council of Ministers drawn from it, with a Governor as the Union’s constitutional presence at the head of the executive. Its weight in the Union is disproportionate to its share of the population. It held 6.04 crore people at the 2011 Census — a shade under 5% of India — but sends 26 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha, and its projected Gross State Domestic Product of Rs 29.82 lakh crore for 2025-26 places it among the largest state economies. Its fiscal posture is unusually conservative for a large state: the 2025-26 budget targets a fiscal deficit of 2% of GSDP, inside the borrowing ceiling states negotiate with the Centre, which leaves the state government relatively unconstrained in its dealings with Union finance. Its relationship with the Centre runs less through grievance than through convergence — the state has been the chosen site for Union-level institutions rather than a claimant against them.

What is structurally distinctive about Gujarat is the combination of a hard social statute and a soft regulatory enclave. It has enforced alcohol prohibition under the inherited Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 from the day it was formed, one of only four states to do so, and a 2009 amendment made it the only state prescribing the death penalty where illicit liquor manufacture causes death; the first territorial exception in six decades came in December 2023, and it was carved out for GIFT City. That enclave is the second distinguishing feature: GIFT City at Gandhinagar hosts India’s first International Financial Services Centre, set up in December 2015, and since April 2020 has been the seat of the IFSCA, a Union regulator unifying banking, insurance, securities and commodity-derivatives supervision inside the zone — an instance of the Centre locating a financial regulator, and a deliberately different legal regime, inside a state. Alongside this sit the longest coastline of any Indian state and an international land border, which make Gujarat a maritime, customs and border-security jurisdiction in which the state police and Union agencies operate together; a biennial Vibrant Gujarat summit, running since 2003, through which the state government conducts industrial policy as investment diplomacy; and an electoral record in which the 2022 assembly returned a governing majority of 156 of 182 seats, leaving no party with the numbers to be recognised as the official opposition.

Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.

Timeline since 1947

  1. reference

    Gujarat formed by the Bombay Reorganisation Act

    The former Bombay State is bifurcated on linguistic lines into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Gujarat takes Ahmedabad as its first capital and carries the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 forward, retaining statewide prohibition from the day of its creation.

    source 1source 2

  2. reference

    Capital moves from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar

    The seat of government shifts to a purpose-built capital; the assembly is later housed at Vithalbhai Patel Bhavan, whose present building was inaugurated in 1982.

    source 1source 2

  3. reference

    First Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit

    The state government institutionalises a biennial investment summit as its principal instrument for courting domestic and foreign capital. Nine further editions follow, the tenth in 2024.

    source 1

  4. reference

    Seven new districts created, taking the count to 33

    Aravalli, Botad, Chhota Udaipur, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Mahisagar, Morbi and Gir Somnath are carved out, the largest single administrative reorganisation of the state since formation.

    source 1

  5. reference

    Statue of Unity inaugurated in Narmada district

    A 182-metre statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, commemorating the integration of the princely states, is unveiled near Kevadia — the tallest statue in the world and the anchor of a state-run tourism and infrastructure zone.

    source 1

  6. reference

    IFSCA established at GIFT City

    The International Financial Services Centres Authority is constituted under the IFSCA Act, 2019 and headquartered at GIFT City, Gandhinagar — where India's first International Financial Services Centre had been set up in December 2015. It unifies banking, insurance, securities and commodity-derivatives regulation inside the IFSC, placing a Union financial regulator on Gujarat soil.

    source 1source 2

  7. reference

    Morbi suspension bridge collapse

    A pedestrian suspension bridge collapses, killing at least 141 people. The state government appoints a five-member inquiry committee; an FIR is filed against the maintenance and management agencies and nine people connected to the operating firm are arrested. The failure is attributed to rusted cables, broken anchors and loose bolts under new heavy flooring.

    source 1

  8. reference

    15th Assembly returned with no recognised opposition

    Polling on 1 and 5 December at 64.84% turnout returns the BJP with 156 of 182 seats — the most won by any party in the state's history — against 17 for the Congress and 5 for the AAP. No party reaches the threshold to be recognised as the official opposition. The assembly's term runs to 2027.

    source 1

  9. reference

    First carve-out from statewide prohibition, at GIFT City

    Controlled liquor consumption is permitted inside GIFT City for permanent employees and authorised visitors — the first territorial exception to a prohibition regime the state has enforced without a break since 1960.

    source 1

  10. reference

    Vav-Tharad created as the 34th district

    The most recent redrawing of the state's administrative map, continuing the pattern of district subdivision that took the count from 26 in 2007 to 34.

    source 1

Frequently asked

What is Gujarat?
Gujarat is a state of the Indian Union formed on 1 May 1960, when the Bombay Reorganisation Act split the former Bombay State along linguistic lines into Gujarat and Maharashtra. It carried a population of 6.04 crore at the 2011 Census — about 5% of India — sends 26 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha, and is governed through a unicameral 182-seat Legislative Assembly seated at Gandhinagar, with a projected Gross State Domestic Product of Rs 29.82 lakh crore in 2025-26. Two structural features set it apart within the federation: it has enforced alcohol prohibition under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 continuously since the day it was created, one of only four states to do so; and it hosts GIFT City, the site of India's first International Financial Services Centre and the seat of the Union's IFSC regulator. It also has the longest coastline of any Indian state, which makes it a frontline maritime and border state as well as an industrial one.
When was Gujarat established?
Gujarat was established 1960-05-01.
What does Gujarat do?
Its remit covers Law and order, police and prisons under the State List, Land, land revenue and land reform, Agriculture, irrigation and the Narmada canal command, Public health, hospitals and sanitation, School and higher education, Excise and prohibition: enforcement of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, in force statewide since 1960, Ports, coastal administration and the state maritime board, Industrial policy, land banks and the biennial Vibrant Gujarat investment summit, Host jurisdiction for GIFT City: India's first International Financial Services Centre.
What is the latest on Gujarat?
As of 2026-07-17: Vav-Tharad created as the 34th district. The most recent redrawing of the state's administrative map, continuing the pattern of district subdivision that took the count from 26 in 2007 to 34.

Official sources

The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.

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