Gujarat – growth engine of India
By Vijesh Zinzuwadia, Zinzuwadia & Co. CA
Strategically located on the west coast of India, Gujarat is a gateway to rich, land-locked northern and central areas of the country. Business is a of life in those areas, with which they are spearheading the Indian effort become a global economic super power. India is a country with a unity in diversity where numerous traditions, cultures and lifestyles exist but business culture is the concept that unites of them in the sub-continent.
Fact file: Gujarat
- 1600 km coastline
- 2,200 km industrial gas grid
- 83 product clusters
- 257 industrial estates
- 32 special economic zones
- 5,271 km railway network
- 43,022 km of district roads, excluding village roads
- Home to India's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) port terminal
- Is the power surplus state of India
- Contains four of India's richest people out of the top ten
- Only state with a state-wide gas grid
Key industrial features
- World's largest grassroots crude oil refinery
- World's largest ship-breaking yard
- 80 % of India's diamond production
- 73.6 % of India's non-major port traffc
- 62 % of India's petrochemicals production
- 60 % of India's cotton exports
- 57 % of India's solar energy production
- 54 % of India's crude oil production
- 51 % of India's chemical production
- 50 % of India's natural gas production
- 35 % of India's sponge iron production
- 35 % of India's stock market wealth owned by inhabitants of Gujarat
- 24 % of India's textile production
- 24 % of India's general exports
- 20 % of India's industrial output
- 17 % of India's wind energy production
- 14.7 % of India's major port traffc
- 9 % of India's mineral production
Gujarat is home to Ford, the Suzuki Corporation, Piaggio, L&T Heavy Engineering, Bayer CropScience and many more MNCs. More than 20% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Gujarat. It has been praised as the most friendly state with which to conduct business in India due to its specific industrial policy and its persistent support from the government. Its low cost base economy with high calibre manpower resource availability makes the destination attractive. Gujarat is a mineral-rich state both in terms of capacity reserves and production, as it has large natural reserves of oil and gas and produces the highest amount of crude oil. It also has reserves of bauxite, limestone and clay deposits.
The Indian government is developing the Gujarat International Finance Tech-City with an investment outlay of USD 6 billion in Ahmedabad, providing an area of 62 million square feet for the development of Financial Services operations (back offces of banking, insurance and asset management companies), IT services (software application development and maintenance), capital markets and trading, BPO services and KPO services.
Overall, Gujarat is a dazzlingly diverse state that astonishes even the most knowledgeable of indophiles, and reveals the hidden treasures of India. Guajaratis are renowned for their entrepreneurial nature, both at home and abroad. Encounter an Indian anywhere, from Wall Street to Wellington, and there's a good chance they hail from this wealthy, resourceful state.
Vijesh Zinzuwadia
Zinzuwadia & Co. CA, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Kalol, Mumbai, India
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; W: www.zinzuwadiaco.com
published: July 2013