Gujarat State Guide: History, Government, Elections, Exams

Overview

Gujarat is a state on the western coast of India, with its capital at Gandhinagar and its largest city at Ahmedabad. It covers about 196,024 sq km, which makes it the fifth largest state by area, and it faces the Arabian Sea along more coastline than any other state. The long-used figure is about 1,600 km; in April 2025 the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways issued a revised national coastline survey that puts Gujarat at 2,340.62 km. Either way, Gujarat ranks first. To the north it borders Pakistan and Rajasthan, to the east Madhya Pradesh, and to the south-east Maharashtra, with the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu at its southern edge.

The state was created on 1 May 1960, when the bilingual Bombay State was split into Gujarat and Maharashtra after the Mahagujarat movement. Its territory is older than the state, though. Dholavira and Lothal, two of the best known Harappan sites in India, lie here. Ashoka's rock inscription stands at Junagadh. The Solanki rulers built Rani ki Vav and the Sun Temple at Modhera, and the Gujarat Sultanate laid out Ahmedabad in 1411. Surat was one of the main ports of the Mughal empire, and Mahatma Gandhi led the 1930 Salt March from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in this state.

As on October 2026, Gujarat has 34 districts. The latest, Vav-Tharad, was carved out of Banaskantha and came into being on 2 October 2025. Gujarat has no divisional commissioner tier between the state and the districts, so administrators and exam writers instead talk about five informal regions: Kutch, Saurashtra, North Gujarat, Central Gujarat and South Gujarat. Each of these has its own landscape, from the salt desert of the Great Rann to the wet, forested Dangs.

Census 2011 counted 60,439,692 people, the ninth highest total among states, with 42.6 per cent living in towns. Gujarati is the official language. The Asiatic lion survives in the wild only in Gujarat, mainly in and around Gir. The Narmada, Sabarmati and Tapi are its best known rivers. Its neighbours Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have their own guides.

This part of the guide covers the land and the people: history, geography, administration and demography. Later parts deal with government, elections, economy, culture and recruitment exams. Changeable figures carry an as-on date, and where sources disagree we say so.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat was formed on 1 May 1960 from Bombay State; the capital is Gandhinagar.
• Area is about 196,024 sq km, the fifth largest state; Census 2011 population is 60,439,692.
• It has the longest coastline of any state: about 1,600 km by the long-used figure, 2,340.62 km in the April 2025 revised survey.
• As on October 2026 Gujarat has 34 districts; Vav-Tharad (headquarters Tharad) was formed on 2 October 2025 from Banaskantha.
• The five informal regions are Kutch, Saurashtra, North, Central and South Gujarat.
• Gujarat is the only home of the wild Asiatic lion; Dholavira (UNESCO, 2021) and Lothal are its Harappan sites.

History

Gujarat's past is shaped by two things, the sea and the trade routes that cross its plains. From the Harappan period onward, ports on the Gulf of Khambhat and the Kathiawar coast sent beads, cotton cloth and metal goods to West Asia and later to Europe. Politically the region was seldom a single unit. It was often split between Kutch, Saurashtra and the mainland, and a "Gujarat" that ruled the whole area at once appears mainly under the Solankis and the Sultanate.

Harappan and early historic period

A large number of Indus (Harappan) sites have been reported in Gujarat; one compilation counts hundreds of Classical and Sorath Harappan sites, dated roughly between 2600 and 1700 BCE. Three names matter most for exams. Dholavira stands on Khadir island in the Great Rann of Kutch. The city was occupied from about 2650 BCE, declined slowly after about 2100 BCE and saw reoccupation until about 1450 BCE. It covered about 47 hectares, was divided into citadel, middle town and lower town, and used stone more than most Harappan towns, which relied on brick. Its sixteen or more reservoirs show a water-saving design suited to a dry land. The site was found in the 1960s by a local resident and documented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under J. P. Joshi in 1967-68. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021, and a ten-sign inscription board found near its northern gate is one of the best known finds.

Lothal lies in the Bhal region near Saragwala village in Ahmedabad district, about 85 km from Ahmedabad city. It dates from about 2300 BCE. ASI excavations ran from 13 February 1955 to 19 May 1960 and exposed a trapezoid brick structure about 215 m by 35 m that is usually read as a dockyard. Lothal was a centre for beads, shellwork and metal goods. The site was nominated for UNESCO in 2014 and is on the tentative list, and a National Maritime Heritage Complex is being built nearby. Other Gujarat sites often named are Surkotada and Rangpur.

Maurya to Maitraka

The Maurya empire ruled Gujarat. The Junagadh rock inscription records that Chandragupta's governor Pushyagupta began the Sudarshana lake, and that the work was completed under Ashoka by his governor Tushaspha, described as a Yavana. Later the Western Satraps, a line of Saka rulers, controlled Saurashtra and parts of the mainland from about the first to the fourth century CE, and the famous Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman I (second century CE) belongs to them. Sources date Rudradaman differently. The Gupta empire later took over; a governor named Chakrapalita ruled Saurashtra under Skandagupta.

The Maitrakas of Valabhi held Saurashtra from about 475 CE, with their capital at Valabhipur near Bhavnagar. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited in 640 CE. The Chavda dynasty followed in the Anhilwara region, and its coin styles still show Sasanian influence.

The Solanki (Chaulukya) age

The Chaulukyas, commonly called Solankis, began with Mularaja around the 940s. Their capital was Anahilavada, which is modern Patan. Under Bhima I (reigned 1022-1064) the great Somnath temple was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni during his raid of 1024-25; Bhima later recovered power and is linked to the Sun Temple at Modhera. His queen Udayamati commissioned the stepwell Rani ki Vav at Patan. Jayasimha Siddharaja (1092-1142) expanded the kingdom, and Kumarapala (1142-1171) is described as its high point; he patronised Jainism, and the Jain scholar Hemachandra worked at his court. Solanki temple style, called Maru-Gurjara, shaped Jain architecture across the north. Rule passed to the Vaghelas, former Chaulukya generals, around 1244. Karna, the last Vaghela, was defeated by Alauddin Khalji's forces about 1297-1300, when Gujarat was brought under the Delhi Sultanate.

Sultanate and Mughal Gujarat

Delhi's governors held Gujarat through the fourteenth century. After Timur's sack of Delhi, the governor Zafar Khan stopped taking orders and became Muzaffar Shah I. Sources date the start of the independent sultanate differently: one gives 1394, another 1407, and we state both rather than pick one. His grandson Ahmad Shah I founded Ahmedabad in 1411. Mahmud Begada (1458-1511) won his nickname by taking the forts of Junagadh and Champaner, and he built up a navy at Diu. The Portuguese took Diu after the naval battle of 1509. The Sultanate left Indo-Islamic buildings such as the Jama Masjid of Ahmedabad and the monuments of Champaner-Pavagadh. Bahadur Shah took the sultanate to its greatest extent, but Humayun attacked in 1535 and the Portuguese killed Bahadur Shah in 1537.

Akbar reached Ahmedabad in November 1572 and annexed Gujarat in 1573, imprisoning the last sultan, Muzaffar Shah III. Under the Mughals, Surat grew into the principal port of the empire; the English East India Company set up its first factory there in the early 1610s (one source gives 1612, another 1614). Shivaji raided Surat in 1664 and 1670.

Marathas, Gaekwads and the British

Maratha power came in during the eighteenth century. The Gaekwads, a Maratha family, took Baroda from the Mughals in 1721 under Pilaji Rao and later ruled it as Baroda State until 1947. Ahmedabad fell to the Marathas in 1752. The British took Surat in 1759 and after the Anglo-Maratha wars the Marathas lost control by 1819. The Gaekwads signed a subsidiary alliance with the British in 1802. Maharaja Sayajirao III (1875-1939) is the best known of them: his state brought in compulsory primary education, a library system and what became the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and he supported B. R. Ambedkar's scholarship to Columbia University.

Under the British, most districts were part of the Bombay Presidency, while Baroda dealt directly with the Governor-General and hundreds of small princely states existed in Kathiawar and elsewhere until 1947.

Freedom movement

Gujarat was one of Mahatma Gandhi's main fields of work, with Sabarmati Ashram on the Ahmedabad riverbank as his base. The Kheda Satyagraha (22 March to 5 June 1918) was a peasant revolt over revenue demands during a famine and plague year, and it ended with a settlement that suspended that year's revenue. Vallabhbhai Patel was one of its main workers. The Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928, led by Patel against a rise in revenue, ended in August 1928 with a settlement that cut the increase to 6.03 per cent; it was during this campaign that the women of Bardoli gave him the title "Sardar". Gandhi's Salt March ran from 12 March to 6 April 1930, from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in Navsari district, a distance of about 240 miles, beginning with 78 marchers.

Integration and the Mahagujarat movement

After 1947 the many Kathiawar states merged into the United State of Kathiawar on 15 February 1948, soon renamed the United State of Saurashtra, with Rajkot as capital. Junagadh's Nawab announced accession to Pakistan on 15 August 1947; India sent forces in and held a plebiscite in February 1948, which voted overwhelmingly for India. Saurashtra merged into the enlarged Bombay State on 1 November 1956, along with Kutch, and Baroda too had joined Bombay State earlier.

The States Reorganisation Commission (1953-55) advised keeping Bombay as a bilingual state, which neither Gujaratis nor Marathi speakers accepted. The Mahagujarat movement began in earnest on 8 August 1956, when police opened fire on student protesters at the Congress House in Ahmedabad. Reports put the death toll at five to eight students. Indulal Yagnik came out of retirement to lead the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad, and Morarji Desai, then Chief Minister of Bombay State, opposed the demand. The central question was whether Bombay city would go to Gujarat or Maharashtra, and it ended with Mumbai going to Maharashtra. On 1 May 1960 Bombay State was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Jivraj Mehta became the first Chief Minister of Gujarat. Ahmedabad served as the first capital, and the capital moved to the new planned city of Gandhinagar around 1970-71 (the year is given as 1971 by one source; the district of Gandhinagar itself was created in 1964).

For exam preparation

• Dholavira (Khadir island, Kutch) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021; Lothal was excavated by the ASI between 1955 and 1960.
• Mularaja founded the Solanki (Chaulukya) dynasty about 940 CE; the capital was Anahilavada (Patan); Rani ki Vav was commissioned by Queen Udayamati.
• Ahmad Shah I founded Ahmedabad in 1411; Mahmud Begada captured Junagadh and Champaner.
• Akbar annexed Gujarat in 1573; the English East India Company built its factory at Surat in the early 1610s.
• The Gaekwads ruled Baroda from 1721; Sayajirao III (1875-1939) introduced compulsory primary education.
• Kheda Satyagraha was 1918, Bardoli Satyagraha 1928, Salt March 12 March to 6 April 1930 (Sabarmati to Dandi).
• Saurashtra State was formed on 15 February 1948 and merged into Bombay State on 1 November 1956.
• Gujarat became a state on 1 May 1960; Jivraj Mehta was its first Chief Minister and Gandhinagar later became the capital.

Geography

Gujarat is a western-coastal state shaped like a broad hook. It is about 590 km long and 500 km wide, with a dry north-west, a hilly south-east and a peninsula, Kathiawar, hanging into the Arabian Sea between two gulfs. Its physical variety is large for a mid-sized state: a salt desert, black-soil plains, river deltas, long beaches, hill forests and mangroves are all within its borders.

Location, boundaries and area

The state lies between the Arabian Sea on the west and south-west and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra on the north, east and south-east. Its north-western edge is an international border with Pakistan, running through the Rann of Kutch and the Banaskantha-Kutch fringe. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, a Union Territory, touch its southern boundary. The area is 196,024 sq km. Gujarat's capital, Gandhinagar, lies on the Sabarmati near Ahmedabad.

Coastline

Gujarat has the longest coastline in India. The figure of about 1,600 km was in use for decades. On 29 April 2025 the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (Transport Research Wing) issued a revised national figure, raising India's coastline from 7,561.60 km to 11,098.81 km and Gujarat's from 1,600 km to 2,340.62 km. The ministry explained that the older number was measured on a coarse 1:4,500,000 map scale in the 1970s, while the new one uses a 1:250,000 scale, takes in the coasts of 1,298 islands and islets, and uses GIS software on 2011 navigation chart data. A lower figure of 1,214 km appears in one encyclopaedia entry; we do not use it. Exam keys have long used 1,600 km, so remember both figures.

The main coastal features are the Gulf of Kutch, the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay) and the Kathiawar coast.

Physical divisions

Kutch is a nearly separate region, dominated by the Great Rann and the Little Rann. It is a flat, saline plain that floods in the monsoon, with low hill ranges and the Banni grassland on its southern edge. Kutch district is the largest in India at about 45,652 sq km (a figure of 45,674 also appears), with Bhuj as its headquarters. Kutch was devastated by an earthquake on 26 January 2001.

Saurashtra (Kathiawar) is a plateau of volcanic rock with low hills, among them Girnar (1,145 m, the highest point in the state), Chotila, Palitana and Barda. Many short rivers such as the Bhadar and Shetrunji rise here and run to the sea. Black soil and cotton and groundnut cultivation mark this region, and its coast has ports such as Veraval, Porbandar and Okha.

North Gujarat is a semi-arid alluvial plain that runs towards Rajasthan, with the Aravalli outliers in the north-east, the Banas and Sabarmati drainage, and the Little Rann on its south-west margin.

Central Gujarat is the fertile plain between the Sabarmati and the Narmada, with the Mahi flowing through it. It contains Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand and Vadodara and also the tribal hills near Dahod and Panchmahal, where Pavagadh rises.

South Gujarat is the wettest region, with the Narmada and Tapi deltas, the Dangs hills (an extension of the Western Ghats and Satpura-Vindhya systems) and the Saputara hill station.

Rivers

Gujarat has no large perennial rivers apart from the Narmada and the Tapi. Many rivers of Saurashtra and Kutch are seasonal. The major rivers are below.

River	Length and course	Key facts
Narmada	About 1,312 km; rises at Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh); about 161 km in Gujarat	Longest west-flowing river of India; enters Gulf of Khambhat about 30 km west of Bharuch; Sardar Sarovar Dam
Tapi (Tapti)	About 724 km; rises at Multai in Madhya Pradesh	Second longest west-flowing river; flows through Surat; Ukai Dam; the 1968 Surat flood killed over 1,000
Sabarmati	About 371 km (about 323 km in Gujarat); rises in the Aravalli range in Udaipur district, Rajasthan	Reaches Gulf of Khambhat; passes Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad; Sabarmati Ashram and riverfront project
Mahi	Not verified for this guide	Flows through Central Gujarat
West Banas	Not verified for this guide	North Gujarat drainage
Shetrunji, Bhadar	Short Saurashtra rivers	Flow from the Kathiawar hills to the sea

The Sabarmati's tributaries include the Wakal, Harnav, Hathmati and Vatrak on the left bank and the Sei on the right. Lengths of the Mahi and West Banas were not confirmed.

Climate

Gujarat has a hot, mostly dry climate that ranges from semi-arid in the north-west to tropical wet-and-dry in the south. The monsoon runs from June to September. Summer day temperatures in the plains can reach about 49 degrees Celsius, while winter days average about 29 degrees. Rainfall falls sharply from south to north-west; for example, Surat gets about 1,243 mm a year, Ahmedabad about 784 mm and Rajkot about 676 mm. The Arabian Sea also brings cyclones, and one study notes that cyclone frequency and intensity rose between 2001 and 2019.

Soils

The state's soil types were not confirmed from a source opened for this guide, so we do not list percentages. Regular school texts name black (regur) soil in Saurashtra and parts of the south, alluvial soil in the plains of the north and centre, and saline soil near the coast and the Rann. Treat this as general background until checked.

Forests, minerals and wildlife

State forest-cover percentages and mineral production figures were not confirmed from an opened source, so they are left out. The Cambay Basin and places such as Ankleshwar and Mehsana are named in one source as important oil and gas areas, and Jamnagar as the main refining hub.

Five ecoregions are listed for Gujarat: the Indus River Delta mangroves, the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests, the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, the north-western thorn scrub forests and the Rann of Kutch. The Rann of Kutch ecoregion as a whole spans about 26,000 sq km across the India-Pakistan border and supports Indian wild ass, nilgai and chinkara, with demoiselle cranes and lesser flamingos among migratory birds.

The Asiatic lion is the best known animal. Counts reported by decade are 411 (2010), 523 (2015) and 674 (2020), all in and around Gir. In the 2015 count most animals were in Junagadh and Amreli, with smaller numbers in Gir Somnath and Bhavnagar. Gir was established in 1965 in the Nawab of Junagadh's former hunting ground, and it is closed for the monsoon from 16 June to 15 October. State symbols include the Asiatic lion (mammal), the greater flamingo (bird) and the blackspotted croaker (fish).

Protected areas

Gujarat has four national parks and 23 wildlife sanctuaries, as per one compilation (the Wikipedia list of protected areas), and the numbers can change.

Protected area	Type	Area (sq km)	District
Gir Forest National Park	National park	258.71	Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli
Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar	National park	34.53	Bhavnagar
Vansda National Park	National park	23.99	Navsari
Marine National Park, Gulf of Kutch	National park	162.89	Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka
Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary	Sanctuary	7,506.22	Kutch
Wild Ass Sanctuary	Sanctuary	4,953.70	Not confirmed
Gir Wildlife Sanctuary	Sanctuary	1,213.42	With Gir National Park
Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary	Sanctuary	607.70	Not confirmed
Balaram Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary	Sanctuary	542.08	Not confirmed

The Kachchh Biosphere Reserve covers 12,454 sq km, and Chhari Dhand is a 227 sq km conservation reserve. The Gir park and sanctuary together are often given as about 1,410 sq km; the table gives the two parts separately. Four Ramsar wetlands are reported for Gujarat in one source: Nalsarovar, Khijadia, Thol and Wadhvana; the Ramsar list can be extended, so check the latest list before an exam.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat has the longest coastline of any state: about 1,600 km by the traditional figure and 2,340.62 km in the April 2025 revised survey.
• The area is about 196,024 sq km; Girnar (1,145 m) is the highest point.
• The Narmada (about 1,312 km, about 161 km in Gujarat) is the longest west-flowing river of India; the Tapi is second.
• The Sabarmati rises in the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and falls into the Gulf of Khambhat after about 371 km.
• Kutch is the largest district of India by area (about 45,652 sq km).
• Gir is the only wild home of the Asiatic lion; counts were 411 (2010), 523 (2015) and 674 (2020).
• Gujarat has four national parks: Gir, Velavadar, Vansda and the Marine National Park in the Gulf of Kutch.

Administration and districts

Gujarat is run at three main levels below the state government: districts, talukas and villages, with municipal bodies in the towns. As on October 2026 there are 34 districts. There is no commissioner-level division in between. According to a district government page, the post of divisional commissioner was abolished on 15 August 1950 and its land-revenue powers were passed to the collector. So the five regions used in this guide are geographical and cultural labels, not official revenue divisions. Collectors report to the state revenue department, and below them each taluka is headed by a mamlatdar.

Number of districts and recent changes

The state began in 1960 with 17 districts and has added more over time, as the table below shows. The list below follows the Wikipedia list of districts, which we compared with the cabinet and gazette dates reported by other sources for the newest one.

• 1964: Gandhinagar, from Ahmedabad and Mehsana.
• 1966: Valsad, from Surat (listed as 1 June 1966).
• 1997: Anand, Dahod, Narmada, Navsari and Porbandar (2 October 1997).
• 2000: Patan (2 October 2000).
• 2007: Tapi, from Surat (2 October 2007).
• 2013: seven districts on 15 August 2013: Aravalli, Chhota Udaipur, Mahisagar, Botad, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Gir Somnath and Morbi.
• 2025: Vav-Tharad, from Banaskantha, on 2 October 2025.

The Gujarat cabinet decided on 1 January 2025 to create Vav-Tharad, the gazette notification is dated 24 September 2025, and the district came into effect on 2 October 2025, making it the 34th district. Its headquarters is Tharad, and it has eight talukas: Vav, Tharad, Suigam, Lakhni, Diyodar, Bhabhar, Dharnidhar and Rah. Sources give different populations for it (about 1.38 million in one place and 978,840 in the district list), so we do not give a firm figure. Census 2011 itself counted only 26 districts, because most of the later districts did not yet exist.

Talukas have also been reorganised. The cabinet approved 17 new talukas on 24 September 2025, taking the count from 248 to 265, as reported by a news agency. Other pages give 251 or 268 talukas, which reflects different dates and unreconciled lists, so we quote 265 as the figure of record from the cabinet announcement. Census 2011 recorded 225 sub-districts, 348 towns (195 statutory and 153 census towns) and 18,225 villages.

The 34 districts

The table gives the district headquarters, region, date of formation and parent district. Regions follow the five-region grouping. District population figures are left out because published numbers mix old and new boundaries.

District	HQ	Region	Formed	Parent district
Ahmedabad	Ahmedabad	Central	1960	Original
Amreli	Amreli	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Anand	Anand	Central	1997	Kheda
Aravalli	Modasa	North	2013	Sabarkantha
Banaskantha	Palanpur	North	1960	Original
Bharuch	Bharuch	South	1960	Original
Bhavnagar	Bhavnagar	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Botad	Botad	Saurashtra	2013	Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar
Chhota Udaipur	Chhota Udaipur	Central	2013	Vadodara
Dahod	Dahod	Central	1997	Panchmahal
Dang	Ahwa	South	1960	Original
Devbhoomi Dwarka	Khambhaliya	Saurashtra	2013	Jamnagar
Gandhinagar	Gandhinagar	North	1964	Ahmedabad, Mehsana
Gir Somnath	Veraval	Saurashtra	2013	Junagadh
Jamnagar	Jamnagar	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Junagadh	Junagadh	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Kheda	Nadiad	Central	1960	Original
Kutch	Bhuj	Kutch	1960	Original
Mahisagar	Lunawada	Central	2013	Kheda, Panchmahal
Mehsana	Mehsana	North	1960	Original
Morbi	Morbi	Saurashtra	2013	Rajkot, Surendranagar
Narmada	Rajpipla	South	1997	Bharuch
Navsari	Navsari	South	1997	Valsad
Panchmahal	Godhra	Central	1960	Original
Patan	Patan	North	2000	Banaskantha, Mehsana
Porbandar	Porbandar	Saurashtra	1997	Junagadh
Rajkot	Rajkot	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Sabarkantha	Himmatnagar	North	1960	Original
Surat	Surat	South	1960	Original
Surendranagar	Surendranagar	Saurashtra	1960	Original
Tapi	Vyara	South	2007	Surat
Vadodara	Vadodara	Central	1960	Original
Valsad	Valsad	South	1966	Surat
Vav-Tharad	Tharad	North	2 Oct 2025	Banaskantha

By area, Kutch is the largest (about 45,652 sq km) and the Dang the smallest (about 1,764 sq km). By Census 2011 population, as compiled in the district list, Ahmedabad is the largest (about 7.2 million) and the Dang the smallest (about 227,000). The district named Dang is often written "The Dangs".

Regions

The five-region grouping puts seven districts in North Gujarat (Banaskantha, Vav-Tharad, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Gandhinagar), eight in Central Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara and Chhota Udaipur), seven in South Gujarat (Bharuch, Narmada, Surat, Tapi, Dang, Navsari and Valsad), eleven in Saurashtra and one, Kutch, in its own region. This adds up to 34. Some textbooks place Ahmedabad in North Gujarat, so check how a question defines the regions.

Urban local bodies

Gujarat's towns are governed under two laws: the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 for corporations, and the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963 for municipalities. By one compilation Gujarat has 17 municipal corporations, 149 municipalities (grouped into categories A to D by size) and 16 nagar panchayats; counts change when the state upgrades towns. On 1 January 2025 nine municipalities were raised to corporation status: Navsari, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Porbandar and Surendranagar. That took the total from eight to 17. The earlier corporations include Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Gandhinagar; the Gandhinagar corporation was the last one formed before this, in 2010.

Panchayati Raj

Rural areas follow a three-tier panchayat system under the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1961, amended in 1993 to follow the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The tiers are the gram panchayat at village level, the taluka panchayat in the middle and the district panchayat at the top. The number of village panchayats was not confirmed for this guide.

Scheduled Areas

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution covers the administration of Scheduled Areas, with a Governor's role in protecting tribal rights. One compilation reports that Gujarat's Scheduled Areas include the whole of the Dangs, Dahod, Narmada and Tapi districts, plus selected talukas in districts such as Surat, Bharuch, Valsad, Vadodara, Panchmahal, Sabarkantha and Navsari. We could not confirm the current Presidential Order from a government source, so treat this as a summary and check the Order before using it in detail. Gujarat has no area under the Sixth Schedule, which applies only to parts of north-eastern states.

For exam preparation

• As on October 2026 Gujarat has 34 districts; the 2013 reorganisation added seven on 15 August 2013.
• Vav-Tharad was notified on 24 September 2025 and formed on 2 October 2025 from Banaskantha; its headquarters is Tharad.
• The state began with 17 districts in 1960; Gandhinagar was added in 1964 and Valsad in 1966.
• The 1997 districts were Anand, Dahod, Narmada, Navsari and Porbandar.
• Kutch (HQ Bhuj) is the largest district and the Dang (HQ Ahwa) the smallest by area.
• Gujarat has no divisional commissioners; the five regions are not official divisions.
• Nine municipalities became corporations on 1 January 2025, taking the total to 17.
• The panchayat system has three tiers: gram, taluka and district.

Demography

Census 2011 is still the latest published census; Census 2027 has not yet been published. Gujarat is the ninth most populous state, fairly urban by Indian standards, and it has a large tribal population concentrated in the east and south-east. All figures here are Census 2011 unless another year is stated.

Census 2011 at a glance

Indicator	Figure (Census 2011)
Population	60,439,692
Males / females	31,491,260 / 28,948,432
Decadal growth 2001-11	19.3 per cent (22.48 per cent in 1991-2001 per one source)
Density	308 per sq km
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males)	919 (rural 949, urban 880)
Child sex ratio (age 0-6)	890 (rural 914, urban 852)
Child population (0-6)	7,777,262 (12.9 per cent)
Literacy	78.0 per cent (male 85.8, female 69.7)
Rural / urban population	57.4 / 42.6 per cent
Scheduled Castes	4,074,447 (6.7 per cent)
Scheduled Tribes	8,917,174 (14.8 per cent)
Workers	24,767,747 (work participation 41.0 per cent)
Towns / villages	348 / 18,225

The most recent literacy figure circulating, 84.6 per cent (2024), is cited by one encyclopaedia entry without its source survey, so we leave it as reported and do not use it for comparison with 2011.

Population growth and urbanisation

Between 2001 and 2011 the population grew by 9,768,675. Rural growth was only 9.3 per cent, while the urban population grew 36.0 per cent, which shows how fast towns expanded. The number of towns rose from 242 to 348, mostly through census towns (those that meet size and occupation rules but are not statutory towns), which went from 74 to 153. Urban literacy is 86.3 per cent against 71.7 per cent in villages. Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara are the biggest urban centres, with Ahmedabad district the most populous district at about 7.2 million in the district compilation we used, followed by Surat. We did not confirm city-level populations from a primary source.

Sex ratio and literacy

The overall sex ratio of 919 is below the national average of 940 (Census 2011). The child sex ratio of 890 is lower still, and the urban figure of 852 is the weakest. Female literacy (69.7 per cent) trails male (85.8 per cent) by about 16 percentage points. Rural female literacy is 61.4 per cent against 81.0 per cent for urban women.

Languages

Gujarati is the official language; Gujarati script and Devanagari are both mentioned as official scripts in one source. Hindi, Sindhi, Marathi and Bhili are among the other languages spoken. Kutchi is the main local language in Kutch. We have not given the mother-tongue percentages, because we did not confirm the Census 2011 language table.

Religions

Hinduism is the largest religion at 88.57 per cent, followed by Islam at 9.67 per cent, Jainism at 0.96 per cent and Christianity at 0.52 per cent (Census 2011, from a data site that reproduces the census). Gujarat has one of the larger Jain populations among states, with centres such as Palitana, Girnar and Shankheshwar. Shares of Sikhs and Buddhists were not confirmed.

Tribes

Scheduled Tribes are 14.8 per cent of the population (8,917,174), and they are much more visible in villages (23.1 per cent of the rural population against 3.5 per cent of the urban one). The Bhil is the largest tribe, with 4,215,603 people or about 47.3 per cent of all Scheduled Tribe people. Others in the top tier are the Dubla (643,120), Rathwa (642,348), Dhodia (635,695), Gamit (378,445) and Chaudhari (302,958); together these six groups are nearly 76 per cent of the tribal population. Tribal populations are densest in the east, from Banaskantha and Sabarkantha through Panchmahal and Dahod to the Narmada, Tapi, Dang and Valsad belt. Smaller groups with few members include Kathodi, Padhar and Siddi. A formal list of which Gujarat tribes are classed as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups was not confirmed, so none is listed here. Scheduled Castes are 6.7 per cent.

Human development indicators

One encyclopaedia entry gives Gujarat an HDI of 0.686 for 2023 (Medium, 25th among states) and notes that the state has among the lowest crime rates in the cities it names. We did not find the HDI source, so we list it as reported and do not rely on it. NFHS-5 (2019-21) figures for Gujarat were not obtained, because the official fact sheet could not be opened. Use the latest NFHS, SRS and NITI Aayog reports when you need health and nutrition indicators, and state the survey year.

For exam preparation

• Census 2011 population is 60,439,692 (31,491,260 males, 28,948,432 females); Gujarat is the ninth most populous state.
• Density is 308 per sq km; decadal growth for 2001-11 was 19.3 per cent.
• Sex ratio is 919 and child sex ratio 890; urban sex ratio is 880 and urban child sex ratio 852.
• Literacy is 78.0 per cent (male 85.8, female 69.7); the urban rate is 86.3 per cent.
• Urban share is 42.6 per cent; towns increased from 242 to 348 between 2001 and 2011.
• Scheduled Tribes are 14.8 per cent and Scheduled Castes 6.7 per cent; the Bhil are the largest tribe.
• Religions: Hindus 88.57, Muslims 9.67, Jains 0.96 and Christians 0.52 per cent.

How the state is governed

Gujarat follows the parliamentary pattern set by the Constitution for every state: a Governor as constitutional head, a Chief Minister and council of ministers answerable to an elected Vidhan Sabha, and a civil service led by the Chief Secretary. Its legislature has a single House, which makes it simpler than the two-House states. This section describes the structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change often, so this guide does not list them; for the current Governor, Chief Minister, ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Chief Justice, use the official state portal and our current affairs pages. Past office-holders with completed tenures are listed later in this guide.

The executive

Office	Role	How filled
Governor	Constitutional head of the state; summons and prorogues the Assembly, gives assent to bills, appoints the Chief Minister; also Chancellor of the state universities	Appointed by the President (Article 155) and holds office during the President's pleasure, normally for five years; the table of past Governors below has 26 completed entries since 1 May 1960, including acting and additional-charge holders
Chief Minister	Head of the government; leads the council of ministers	Leader of the party or alliance that commands a majority in the Vidhan Sabha, appointed by the Governor (Article 164)
Deputy Chief Minister	Senior minister; not a separate constitutional office	Named by the Chief Minister, and the post is not filled in every government
Council of ministers	Cabinet ministers and ministers of state who run the departments; collectively answerable to the Assembly	Total capped at 15 per cent of the Assembly's strength (Article 164(1A)), which works out to a maximum of 27 for a 182-seat House
Chief Secretary	Administrative head of the government and the civil service	Senior IAS officer chosen by the government
Director General of Police	Head of the state police	IPS officer, selected under the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh guidelines
Advocate General	Chief legal adviser to the government	Appointed by the Governor (Article 165)

The Governor lives at Lok Bhavan, Gandhinagar (the old Raj Bhavan). Gandhinagar is the capital, the seat of the Vidhan Sabha and of the state secretariat. Ahmedabad, the largest city, was the first seat of the government and remains the seat of the High Court. Gandhinagar was planned in the 1960s and named after Mahatma Gandhi; sources differ on the year the government shifted there, so none is given.

Departments and districts

Each department is headed by a minister, and its day-to-day administrative head is an Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary or Secretary, usually an IAS officer. In the field, Gujarat has 34 districts as on October 2026, the newest being Vav-Tharad, carved out of Banaskantha on 2 October 2025 with its headquarters at Tharad. Each district is run by a District Collector, who is also the District Magistrate, and districts are divided into prants (sub-divisions) and talukas. Talukas and prants are counted differently by different sources, so no total is given.

Constitutional and statutory bodies

• Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) came into being on 1 May 1960, the day the state was formed. It sits at Gandhinagar, works under Article 320 and conducts examinations for state services.
• State Election Commission, set up in September 1993 after the 73rd and 74th Amendments, runs municipal and panchayat elections under Article 243K from Gandhinagar. The Election Commission of India runs Assembly and Parliamentary polls through the state's Chief Electoral Officer.
• The State Finance Commission, State Information Commission and State Human Rights Commission are the other standard constitutional or statutory bodies.
• Lokayukta: the post exists under the Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986. It lay vacant for about a decade after the last holder's term ended in December 2003, and the state passed a new Lokayukta Aayog Act in 2013 (see the next section).
• Local government: the state has urban bodies (municipal corporations and municipalities) and a three-tier panchayat system (gram, taluka and district panchayats).

For exam preparation

• The Governor is appointed by the President; the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.
• The council of ministers is capped at 15 per cent of the House, which is a maximum of 27 for 182 seats (Article 164(1A), 91st Amendment).
• Gandhinagar is the capital and houses the Vidhan Sabha and the secretariat; the High Court sits at Ahmedabad.
• GPSC was set up on 1 May 1960 and sits at Gandhinagar; the State Election Commission dates from September 1993.
• Gujarat has 34 districts as on October 2026; Vav-Tharad (2 October 2025) is the newest.

Legislature, Parliament and judiciary

Gujarat has a unicameral legislature: a 182-member Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and no Legislative Council. It sends 26 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha.

Vidhan Sabha

The Assembly meets at Vithalbhai Patel Bhavan, Gandhinagar, a building inaugurated on 8 July 1982. The foundation stone was laid on 20 March 1978. The Assembly's own history is older: Wikipedia gives its founding as 3 March 1962, when the first House elected after statehood met, and records that it first sat in a building at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital campus before moving to the Central Library at Gandhinagar on 11 February 1971 and then to its present home. The House has 182 directly elected members from single-member constituencies. Of these, 13 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 27 for Scheduled Tribes, leaving 142 general seats. Members serve five years unless the House is dissolved earlier. The size was 154 in 1962, 168 in 1967 and 1972, and 182 from the 1975 election.

Party	Seats won, December 2022
Bharatiya Janata Party	156
Indian National Congress	17
Aam Aadmi Party	5
Others	4
Total	182

These are the December 2022 results, not the live position, which has changed through resignations, defections and by-elections; check the Assembly website for it. The next general election is due in 2027. After the 2022 result no party reached the strength normally required to be recognised as the official opposition (the usual norm is one-tenth of the House, which is 19 seats; the Congress won 17).

Rajya Sabha

Gujarat has 11 Rajya Sabha seats. Members are elected by the MLAs through the single transferable vote for six years, and one-third of the Rajya Sabha retires every second year, so Gujarat's seats fall due in separate groups rather than all at once. The Election Commission announced polling for four Gujarat seats on 18 June 2026; the result of that poll was not verified for this guide.

Lok Sabha

The state has 26 Lok Sabha constituencies, 2 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 4 for Scheduled Tribes.

Reservation	Constituencies
SC (2)	Kachchh, Ahmedabad West
ST (4)	Dahod, Chhota Udaipur, Bardoli, Valsad
General (20)	Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari

High Court and other bodies

The Gujarat High Court was established on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, when Bombay State was split. Its seat is Ahmedabad. It began work in a building near Akashwani at Navrangpura and moved to a new complex on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway at Sola, Ahmedabad, from 16 January 1999. Wikipedia reports a sanctioned strength of 52 judges (39 permanent and 13 additional) from the High Court's own site; this figure was cited from 2017 and may have changed since, so check the court's website. Gujarat was among the first high courts to live-stream its proceedings, and from February 2023 it began live-streaming proceedings in the principal district courts as well. The court has jurisdiction over the whole state and has the power of superintendence over subordinate courts under Article 227.

Below the High Court are district and sessions courts in each district, each headed by a District Judge, with civil courts, family courts and special courts under them. Past Chief Justices are listed in the history section below.

The Lokayukta deals with complaints against public servants. The post was created by the Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986. The last holder's term ended in December 2003 and the post stayed empty for about ten years, a long gap that became a political and legal issue. A new Lokayukta Aayog Act was passed in 2013 and an appointment followed; after that holder retired, a retired High Court judge was sworn in as the fifth Lokayukta in 2023 (reported by Bar and Bench and LiveLaw). The State Election Commission (September 1993) runs local-body polls.

For exam preparation

• The Vidhan Sabha has 182 seats: 142 General, 13 SC and 27 ST; there is no Vidhan Parishad.
• Gujarat has 26 Lok Sabha seats (2 SC, 4 ST) and 11 Rajya Sabha seats.
• The two SC Lok Sabha seats are Kachchh and Ahmedabad West; the four ST seats are Dahod, Chhota Udaipur, Bardoli and Valsad.
• The Assembly meets at Vithalbhai Patel Bhavan, Gandhinagar (inaugurated 8 July 1982).
• The Gujarat High Court was established on 1 May 1960 and sits at Ahmedabad; it moved to Sola on 16 January 1999.

Elections

Gujarat has held 14 general elections to its Legislative Assembly since the first in 1962, most recently in December 2022. After statehood the Congress dominated until 1990, when the Janata Dal and BJP together broke its hold. The BJP won its first majority in 1995 and has won every general election since. Figures below come from Wikipedia's election pages, which cite Election Commission of India (ECI) data; the ECI's own statistical reports could not be opened for this guide, so small differences (especially in vote share) are possible.

Vidhan Sabha elections, 1990 to 2022

Cells show seats won, with vote share in brackets where available. INC means Indian National Congress.

Year	Seats	Turnout	BJP	INC	Other notable	Government formed
1990	182	52.20%	67 (26.69%)	33 (30.74%)	Janata Dal 70 (29.36%), Yuva Vikas Party 1, Independents 11	Janata Dal with BJP
1995	182	64.39%	121 (42.51%)	45 (32.86%)	Independents 16	BJP
1998	182	59.30%	117 (44.88%)	53 (34.90%)	Rashtriya Janata Party 4 (11.69%), Janata Dal 4, SP 1, Independents 3	BJP
2002	182	61.54%	127 (49.85%)	51 (39.28%)	JD(U) 2, Independents 2	BJP
2007	182	59.77%	117 (49.12%)	59 (38.00%)	NCP 3, JD(U) 1, Independents 2	BJP
2012	182	72.02%	115 (47.86%)	61 (38.94%)	GPP 2 (3.63%), NCP 2, JD(U) 1, Independent 1	BJP
2017	182	69.01%	99 (49.1%)	77 (41.4%)	Independents 3, others 3	BJP
2022	182	64.84%	156 (52.50%)	17 (27.28%)	AAP 5 (12.92%), others 4	BJP

Notes on the table. Seat counts add up to 182 for every year shown. In 1990 the INC had a higher vote share than the Janata Dal and the BJP but won far fewer seats. The Rashtriya Janata Party (1998 column) was a breakaway group from the BJP (see Political history below). The 2012 turnout of 72.02 per cent is the second highest in the full table, behind 1967.

Earlier elections, 1962 to 1985

Year	Seats	Turnout	INC	Second party (seats, vote share)	Government formed
1962	154	65.95%	113 (50.84%)	Swatantra Party 26 (24.44%)	INC
1967	168	74.80%	93 (45.96%)	Swatantra Party 66 (38.19%)	INC
1972	168	58.10%	140 (50.93%)	INC(O) 16 (23.49%)	INC
1975	182	60.09%	75 (40.70%)	INC(O) 56 (23.60%)	INC(O)-led Janata Front
1980	182	48.37%	141 (51.04%)	Janata Party 21 (22.77%)	INC
1985	182	51.59%	149 (55.55%)	Janata Party 14 (19.25%)	INC

Other seats: in 1962 the PSP won 7, a local party (Nutan Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad) 1 and independents 7; in 1967 the PSP won 3, the Jan Sangh 1 and independents 5; in 1972 the Jan Sangh won 3; in 1975 the Jan Sangh won 18 and the Kisan Mazdoor Lok Paksha 12; in 1980 the BJP won 9 (14.02 per cent) and in 1985 11 (14.96 per cent). The 1967 turnout of 74.80 per cent is the highest in the state's history in the confirmed figures above. The 1962 election was the first after the state was created.

The three most recent elections

2012. The BJP won 115 of 182 seats with 47.86 per cent of the vote, the Congress 61 with 38.94 per cent, the Gujarat Parivartan Party 2 (3.63 per cent) and the NCP 2. Polling was in two phases on 13 and 17 December 2012, with counting on 20 December. There were 3,78,27,502 electors and turnout was 72.02 per cent. The Chief Minister since 2001 was sworn in for a fourth consecutive term.

2017. The BJP won 99 seats (49.1 per cent), 16 fewer than in 2012, while the Congress rose to 77 seats (41.4 per cent), its highest tally since 1985. Independents won 3 and other parties 3. Polling was on 9 and 14 December 2017, with counting on 18 December. There were 4,35,46,956 electors; turnout was 69.01 per cent, a fall of 3.01 percentage points, and NOTA took 5,51,615 votes (1.8 per cent). The BJP kept its majority and its Chief Minister continued in office.

2022. The BJP won 156 seats and 52.50 per cent of the vote, the most seats ever won by any party in Gujarat. The previous record was the Congress's 149 in 1985, though the Congress's 1985 vote share of 55.55 per cent remains higher than the BJP's 2022 share. The Congress fell to 17 seats (27.28 per cent), its lowest tally in the table above, and the Aam Aadmi Party, contesting widely for the first time, won 5 seats with 12.92 per cent. Four seats went to other candidates. Polling was in two phases, on 1 and 5 December 2022, with counting on 8 December. There were 4,90,89,765 electors and turnout was 64.84 per cent, 4.17 percentage points below 2017. The Chief Minister retained his Ghatlodia seat and continued in office. No party won enough seats to be recognised as the official opposition.

Earlier turning points

The 1990 election ended Congress dominance: the Janata Dal won 70 seats and the BJP 67, and the two formed a coalition with the Janata Dal leader as Chief Minister and the BJP leader as Deputy Chief Minister. Wikipedia's list shows the same Chief Minister under the Congress label from 25 October 1990. The 1995 election gave the BJP its first majority: 121 of 182 seats with 42.51 per cent of votes, a gain of 54 seats on 1990, and a BJP Chief Minister was sworn in on 14 March 1995. The BJP then won every election from 1998 to 2022.

Lok Sabha elections

Gujarat sends 26 members to the Lok Sabha. The table below covers every election from 2004; shares are Wikipedia's figures of votes polled.

Year	Polling or turnout	BJP	INC	Others
2004	Turnout not confirmed	14 (47.37%)	12 (43.86%)	None
2009	47.90%	15 (46.52%)	11 (43.38%)	None
2014	63.66% (30 April)	26 (59.05%)	0 (32.86%)	None
2019	64.51% (23 April)	26 (62.21%)	0 (32.11%)	None
2024	60.13% (7 May)	25 (61.86%)	1 (31.24%)	AAP 0 (2.69%)

The BJP lost 6 seats and the Congress gained 6 in 2004 compared with 1999. In 2014 the BJP won all 26 seats, the first clean sweep in the 2004 to 2024 table, and repeated it in 2019. In 2024 the BJP won 25: its candidate for Surat was elected unopposed, with no other candidate left in the contest, and the Congress won one seat, Banaskantha, by 30,406 votes. Turnout rose by 15.76 percentage points in 2014 and fell by 4.38 points in 2024 from 2019. Results before 2004 were not verified for this guide.

By-elections

By-elections arise from deaths, resignations, disqualification or an MLA winning a Lok Sabha seat. Wikipedia counts by-elections by Assembly as follows: the 13th Assembly (2012 to 2017) had 17 (5 in 2013, 10 in 2014, 2 in 2016), the 14th Assembly (2017 to 2022) had 20 (1 in 2018, 10 in 2019, 8 in 2020, 1 in 2021) and the 15th Assembly (from 2022) has seen 10 so far by this guide's date. In the 14th Assembly, many of the vacancies came from Congress MLAs who resigned and then won re-election on a BJP ticket.

Date	Seat or seats	Result
23 April 2019	Dhrangadhra, Jamnagar Rural, Manavadar, Unjha	BJP won all 4 (the Congress MLAs who had resigned re-contested on a BJP ticket)
21 October 2019	Radhanpur, Bayad, Tharad, Kheralu, Amraiwadi, Lunawada	Congress 3 (Radhanpur, Bayad, Tharad), BJP 3
3 November 2020	Abdasa, Limdi, Morbi, Dhari, Gadhada, Karjan, Dang, Kaparada	BJP won all 8
17 April 2021	Morva Hadaf	BJP won
7 May 2024	Vijapur, Porbandar, Manavadar, Khambhat, Vaghodiya	BJP won all 5
13 November 2024	Vav	BJP won (the seat fell vacant when its MLA won a Lok Sabha seat on 4 June 2024)
19 June 2025	Kadi, Visavadar	BJP won Kadi; AAP won Visavadar
23 April 2026	Umreth	BJP held the seat
30 July 2026	Manjalpur	BJP held the seat

In the table above, Visavadar in June 2025 is the only by-election since 2019 that the BJP did not win. Visavadar was also the seat from which the first BJP Chief Minister was elected in 1995 and 1998. A 2024 list in Wikipedia counts 6 by-elections for that year (the 5 on 7 May plus Vav). The 2026 entries come from the same page and cite news reports of the polls on 23 April and 30 July.

Municipal and panchayat elections

The State Election Commission runs local-body polls, not the ECI. Urban bodies are municipal corporations and municipalities; rural bodies are the gram, taluka and district panchayats.

2021. Polling for the six older municipal corporations (Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar) was in February 2021. The BJP won all six.

Corporation	Wards	BJP	INC	Other
Ahmedabad	192	159	25	AIMIM 7, others 1
Surat	120	93	0	AAP 27
Vadodara	76	69	7	0
Bhavnagar	52	44	8	0
Jamnagar	64	50	11	BSP 3
Rajkot	72	68	4	0

AAP became the main opposition in Surat. Gandhinagar voted separately in October 2021; the BJP won 41 of its 44 wards, the Congress 2 and AAP 1. The municipalities, taluka panchayats and district panchayats voted on 28 February 2021, with counting on 2 March 2021. Reports agree that the BJP won all 31 district panchayats and a large majority of the 231 taluka panchayats; the figures for municipalities differ between sources (70 of 81 in one, 74 of 81 in another), so no total is given.

2026. Elections for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats were held on 26 April 2026, with counting on 28 April and the process ending on 30 April. Gandhinagar's corporation was scheduled separately. Nine of the 15 corporations were newly upgraded (Anand-Karamsad, Gandhidham, Mehsana, Morbi, Nadiad, Navsari, Porbandar-Chhaya, Surendranagar-Wadhwan and Vapi) and voted for the first time as corporations. The BJP won all 15.

Corporation	Wards	BJP	INC	Other
Ahmedabad	192	160	32	0
Surat	120	115	1	AAP 4
Vadodara	76	69	6	1
Rajkot	72	65	7	0

The BJP won all 52 wards in each of Morbi and Porbandar. Turnout, per Wikipedia, was 55.1 per cent in the corporations, 65.53 per cent in municipalities, 66.64 per cent in district panchayats and 67.26 per cent in taluka panchayats. One news report counted the BJP ahead in 79 of 84 municipalities and 33 of 34 district panchayats, with AAP taking one; these body-level counts are from a single outlet and are given as reported. AIMIM and the Samajwadi Party entered civic contests this time, as Wikipedia notes. Final tallies from the State Election Commission were not opened for this guide.

Reservation, delimitation and voters

The Assembly has 13 SC and 27 ST seats and the Lok Sabha has 2 SC and 4 ST seats (see above); the current constituency map follows the Delimitation Commission's order of 2008. Local bodies reserve seats for SC, ST, OBC and women. On 29 August 2023 the state announced 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations, up from 10 per cent, on the basis of the Jhaveri Commission report. In PESA-notified Scheduled Areas, where tribal population is over half, OBC reservation stays at 10 per cent, SC and ST quotas are unchanged and the 50 per cent overall ceiling is kept. The change allowed local-body polls, which had been postponed over the quota issue, to go ahead. The percentage reserved for women in local bodies was not verified.

Electors numbered 3,32,38,196 in 2002, 3,78,27,502 in 2012, 4,35,46,956 in 2017 and 4,90,89,765 in 2022. Wikipedia's summary of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls (announced 27 October 2025) gives approximate figures for Gujarat of 5.08 crore electors before the exercise and 4.40 crore in the final roll, about 68 lakh fewer. That figure is flagged in the source as needing a citation and the ECI's own figures were not opened, so treat it as approximate.

Firsts and records

• The BJP's 156 seats in 2022 are the most any party has won in a Gujarat Assembly election; the Congress's 149 in 1985 held the record before.
• The Congress's 1985 win is the last time it won a majority in the state.
• 1967 had the highest turnout in the confirmed figures (74.80 per cent); 1980 had the lowest (48.37 per cent).
• In 2024 a BJP candidate was elected unopposed from Surat.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat has held 14 Assembly general elections, from 1962 to 2022; the first had 154 seats and the 1975 election was the first with 182.
• The BJP's first majority was in 1995 (121 seats); it won 127 in 2002, 117 in 2007, 115 in 2012, 99 in 2017 and a record 156 in 2022.
• The 2022 election was held on 1 and 5 December, counting on 8 December; turnout was 64.84 per cent.
• The Congress's record of 149 seats in 1985 stood until 2022.
• BJP Lok Sabha seats: 14 in 2004, 15 in 2009, 26 in 2014, 26 in 2019, 25 in 2024.
• In 2026 the BJP won all 15 municipal corporations; in 2021 it won all six that polled in February.

Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders

This section lists only completed tenures, which do not change. Dates follow Wikipedia's lists, which draw on official records; Speaker and Chief Justice dates vary by a few days between sources, and where two Wikipedia lists disagree, only years are shown. Gujarat has had 17 Chief Ministers since 1 May 1960 (the 17th is the incumbent, not named here). It has had five spells of President's Rule.

Chief Ministers

No.	Chief Minister	Party	Tenure or tenures
1	Jivraj Narayan Mehta	INC	1 May 1960 to 19 Sep 1963
2	Balwantrai Mehta	INC	19 Sep 1963 to 19 Sep 1965
3	Hitendra Desai	INC, then INC(O)	19 Sep 1965 to 13 May 1971
4	Ghanshyam Oza	INC	17 Mar 1972 to 17 Jul 1973
5	Chimanbhai Patel	INC; later JD, then INC	17 Jul 1973 to 9 Feb 1974; 4 Mar 1990 to 17 Feb 1994 (JD to 25 Oct 1990, INC after)
6	Babubhai J. Patel	INC(O); Janata Party	18 Jun 1975 to 12 Mar 1976; 11 Apr 1977 to 17 Feb 1980
7	Madhav Singh Solanki	INC	24 Dec 1976 to 11 Apr 1977; 7 Jun 1980 to 6 Jul 1985; 10 Dec 1989 to 4 Mar 1990
8	Amarsinh Chaudhary	INC	6 Jul 1985 to 10 Dec 1989
9	Chhabildas Mehta	INC	17 Feb 1994 to 14 Mar 1995
10	Keshubhai Patel	BJP	14 Mar 1995 to 21 Oct 1995; 4 Mar 1998 to 7 Oct 2001
11	Suresh Mehta	BJP	21 Oct 1995 to 19 Sep 1996
12	Shankersinh Vaghela	Rashtriya Janata Party	23 Oct 1996 to 27 Oct 1997
13	Dilip Parikh	Rashtriya Janata Party	27 Oct 1997 to 4 Mar 1998
14	Narendra Modi	BJP	7 Oct 2001 to 22 May 2014
15	Anandiben Patel	BJP	22 May 2014 to 7 Aug 2016
16	Vijay Rupani	BJP	7 Aug 2016 to 13 Sep 2021
17	Incumbent	BJP	From 13 Sep 2021

Short tenures stand out: the shortest single spell is the third one of the Chief Minister numbered 7, at 84 days (10 December 1989 to 4 March 1990), followed by his first (108 days) and the 13th Chief Minister (128 days). The longest is the 14th Chief Minister's, 4,610 days or 12 years 227 days, the longest in the state's history. The 15th Chief Minister was the state's first woman Chief Minister. The 2nd Chief Minister's tenure ended on 19 September 1965, reported to be when his aircraft was shot down during the India-Pakistan conflict. The five spells of President's Rule were 13 May 1971 to 17 March 1972, 9 February 1974 to 18 June 1975, 12 March 1976 to 24 December 1976, 17 February to 7 June 1980 and 19 September to 23 October 1996. Wikipedia's list gives the Chief Minister numbered 5 as leading the Janata Dal until 25 October 1990 and the Congress afterwards.

Governors

No.	Governor	Tenure
1	Mehdi Nawaz Jung	1 May 1960 to 1 Aug 1965
2	Nityanand Kanungo	1 Aug 1965 to 6 Dec 1967
3	P. N. Bhagwati (acting)	7 to 26 Dec 1967
4	Shriman Narayan	26 Dec 1967 to 17 Mar 1973
5	P. N. Bhagwati (acting, second time)	17 Mar to 4 Apr 1973
6	K. K. Viswanathan	4 Apr 1973 to 13 Aug 1978
7	Sharda Mukherjee	14 Aug 1978 to 6 Aug 1983
8	K. M. Chandy	6 Aug 1983 to 26 Apr 1984
9	Braj Kumar Nehru	26 Apr 1984 to 26 Feb 1986
10	Ram Krishna Trivedi	26 Feb 1986 to 2 May 1990
11	Mahipal Shastri	2 May to 20 Dec 1990
12	Sarup Singh	21 Dec 1990 to 19 Jun 1993
13	P. C. Alexander (acting)	20 Jun to 20 Jul 1993
14	Sarup Singh (second time)	21 Jul 1993 to 1 Jul 1995
15	Naresh Chandra	1 Jul 1995 to 1 Mar 1996
16	Krishna Pal Singh	1 Mar 1996 to 24 Apr 1998
17	Anshuman Singh	25 Apr 1998 to 16 Jan 1999
18	K. G. Balakrishnan (acting)	16 Jan to 18 Mar 1999
19	Sunder Singh Bhandari	18 Mar 1999 to 7 May 2003
20	Kailashpati Mishra	7 May 2003 to 12 Jul 2004
21	Balram Jakhar (additional charge)	12 to 24 Jul 2004
22	Nawal Kishore Sharma	24 Jul 2004 to 29 Jul 2009
23	S. C. Jamir (additional charge)	30 Jul to 26 Nov 2009
24	Kamla Beniwal	27 Nov 2009 to 6 Jul 2014
25	Margaret Alva (additional charge)	7 to 15 Jul 2014
26	Om Prakash Kohli	16 Jul 2014 to 16 Jul 2019
27	Incumbent	From 22 Jul 2019

The post was vacant from 16 to 22 July 2019. Before 1960 Gujarat's districts were in Bombay State, whose Governors included Sri Prakasa (10 December 1956 to 30 April 1960). The longest tenures were K. K. Viswanathan's and Shriman Narayan's, each a little over five years. Wikipedia flags the end of the 20th Governor's term as a resignation or removal.

Speakers of the Vidhan Sabha

Speaker	Tenure
Kalyanji V. Mehta	1 May to 19 Aug 1960
Mansinhji Rana	19 Aug 1960 to 19 Mar 1962
Fatehali Palejwala	19 Mar 1962 to 17 Mar 1967
Raghavji Leuva	17 Mar 1967 to 28 Jun 1975
Kundanlal Dholakia	28 Jun 1975 to 28 Mar 1977; again 21 Apr 1977 to 20 Jun 1980
Natwarlal Shah	20 Jun 1980 to 8 Jan 1990
Barjorji Pardiwala	19 Jan to 16 Mar 1990
Shashikant Lakhani	16 Mar to 12 Nov 1990
Himatlal Mulani	11 Feb 1991 to 21 Mar 1995
Harishchandra Patel	21 Mar 1995 to 16 Sep 1996
Gumansinhji Vaghela	29 Oct 1996 to 19 Mar 1998
Dhirubhai Shah	19 Mar 1998 to 27 Dec 2002
Mangaldas Patel	27 Dec 2002 to 18 Jan 2008
Ashok Bhatt	18 Jan 2008 to 29 Sep 2010
Ganpat Vasava	23 Feb 2011 to 26 Dec 2012; again 9 Nov 2014 to 7 Aug 2016
Vajubhai Vala	23 Jan 2013 to 30 Aug 2014
Ramanlal Vora	22 Aug 2016 to 19 Feb 2018
Rajendra Trivedi	19 Feb 2018 to 13 Sep 2021
Nimaben Acharya	13 Sep 2021 to 20 Dec 2022

The incumbent Speaker has held office since 20 December 2022 and is not named. Acting Speakers served in the gaps in 1977, 1990, 1996, 2010 to 2011, 2012 to 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Chief Justices of the Gujarat High Court

The court began on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Years are shown because two Wikipedia lists differ on some dates, and acting Chief Justices who served in short gaps are not listed.

No.	Chief Justice	Tenure
1	Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai	1960 to 1961
2	Kantilal Thakoredas Desai	1961 to 1963
3	Jaishanker Manilal Shelat	1963 to 1966
4	Nomanbhai Mahmedbhai Miabhoy	1966 to 1967
5	P. N. Bhagwati	1967 to 1973 (later Chief Justice of India)
6	Bipinchandra Jivanlal Divan	1973 to 1976; 1977 to 1981
7	Seshareddi Obul Reddy	1976 to 1977
8	Manharlal Pranlal Thakkar	1981 to 1983
9	Padmanabhan Subramanian Poti	1983 to 1985
10	Puliyangudi Ramaiyapillai Gokulakrishnan	1985 to 1990
11	Ganendra Narayan Ray	1990 to 1991 (Wikipedia's other list runs it to 1992)
12	Sundaram Nainar Sundaram	1992 to 1993
13	Bhupinder Nath Kirpal	1993 to 1995 (later Chief Justice of India)
14	Gurudas Datta Kamat	1996 to 1997
15	Kumaran Sreedharan	1997 to 1998
16	K. G. Balakrishnan	1998 to 1999 (later Chief Justice of India)
17	D. M. Dharmadhikari	2000 to 2002
18	Daya Saran Sinha	2002 to 2003
19	Bhawani Singh	2003 to 2006
20	Y. R. Meena	2007 to 2008
21	K. S. Panicker Radhakrishnan	2008 to 2009
22	S. J. Mukhopadhaya	2009 to 2011
23	Bhaskar Bhattacharya	2012 to 2014
24	R. Subhash Reddy	2016 to 2018
25	Vikram Nath	2019 to 2021
26	Aravind Kumar	2021 to 2023
27	Sonia Gokani	13 to 25 Feb 2023

The incumbent has held office since 23 July 2023 and is not named; an acting Chief Justice served from 26 February to 21 July 2023.

For exam preparation

• Jivraj Narayan Mehta was the first Chief Minister (1 May 1960); the state has had 17 Chief Ministers and five spells of President's Rule.
• The longest tenure is 12 years 227 days (7 October 2001 to 22 May 2014); the 15th Chief Minister was the first woman to hold the office.
• Mehdi Nawaz Jung was the first Governor (1 May 1960 to 1 August 1965).
• Kalyanji V. Mehta was the first Speaker (1 May to 19 August 1960).
• Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai was the first Chief Justice of the High Court (1960 to 1961).
• For the present holders of any post, check current affairs.

Political history and movements

Gujarat's politics runs from the Mahagujarat agitation that created the state, through Congress dominance and two mass movements, to the BJP's long run from 1995. This section covers events; the Elections section has the numbers.

Mahagujarat and the creation of the state

After independence, Gujarati-speaking districts lay in the bilingual Bombay State. The States Reorganisation Commission (1953 to 1955) recommended keeping Bombay bilingual, and both Gujarati and Marathi speakers demanded states of their own. The Mahagujarat movement began on 8 August 1956, when police firing at Congress House in Ahmedabad killed students (sources say between five and eight), and ran until 1 May 1960. It was coordinated by the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad, led by Indulal Yagnik. The Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, split the state into Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960: Mumbai went to Maharashtra and the Dang to Gujarat. Ahmedabad was the first seat of government.

Congress dominance and the Swatantra challenge

The Congress won 113 of 154 seats in 1962. In 1967 it fell to 93 of 168 seats while the Swatantra Party rose from 26 seats to 66. After the Congress split in 1969 the Chief Minister of the time went with the Congress (Organisation) faction, and President's Rule began on 13 May 1971. In 1972 the Congress won 140 of 168 seats.

The Navnirman movement, 1973 to 1974

The Navnirman ("reconstruction") movement began on 20 December 1973, when engineering students at L. D. College, Ahmedabad, protested a 20 per cent rise in hostel mess charges. It grew into a wider protest against corruption and rising prices. The Chief Minister resigned on 9 February 1974, President's Rule followed, and the Assembly was dissolved on 16 March 1974 after many MLAs resigned under pressure. Official figures cited by Wikipedia give 103 deaths and 8,053 arrests. The movement is credited with inspiring the Bihar movement of 1974. In the 1975 election a Janata Front government under the Congress (Organisation) leader took office on 18 June 1975, fell on 12 March 1976, and President's Rule lasted until 24 December 1976.

The 1980s and the BJP's rise

The Congress won 141 seats in 1980 and a record 149 in 1985 under a Chief Minister whose social coalition is often described as KHAM (Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims); the label is common in political writing but was not checked against a primary source. A reservation agitation followed in 1985, and the Chief Minister resigned on 6 July 1985; its details and toll were not verified. The Janata Dal and BJP formed a coalition after the 1990 election, and the BJP won its first majority in 1995. President's Rule from 19 September to 23 October 1996 was followed by a government of the Rashtriya Janata Party, a breakaway group of BJP legislators, which ended on 4 March 1998 after the February 1998 election returned the BJP with 117 seats. Gujarat suffered a major earthquake on 26 January 2001, and the BJP changed its Chief Minister on 7 October 2001; the reasons for these changes of Chief Minister were not verified.

2002

On 27 February 2002 a fire on a train coach near Godhra killed 59 people, most of them pilgrims returning from Ayodhya. Violence followed from 28 February in several districts. Official figures given to the Lok Sabha in May 2005 were 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus killed, with 223 missing; independent estimates are higher (some above 1,900 deaths, mostly Muslims). The cause of the Godhra fire has been disputed: the Nanavati-Shah Commission found arson by a mob, while other inquiries concluded differently. A Special Investigation Team examined allegations against senior officials and the then Chief Minister and filed a closure report in 2012; the Supreme Court upheld it in June 2022. Wikipedia reports about 200 convictions among roughly 600 accused. The government recommended dissolution of the Assembly in July 2002, and the election of 12 December 2002 gave the BJP 127 seats. This summary states what is on record and does not settle contested findings.

The Patidar agitation, 2015

From July 2015 the Patidar community, led by a youth organisation, demanded OBC status. The largest rally was on 25 August 2015 at the GMDC grounds, Ahmedabad (over 5 lakh attendees, per Wikipedia); violence followed, with 14 deaths and at least 650 arrests reported. In April 2016 the state announced 10 per cent reservation for economically backward classes among the upper castes; the High Court quashed the order in August 2016. In January 2019 Parliament passed the 103rd Amendment, giving up to 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections nationally, and the Supreme Court upheld it in November 2022.

Recent developments

The Aam Aadmi Party won 27 Surat corporation wards in 2021, 5 Assembly seats in 2022 and the Visavadar by-election in June 2025. In 2024 a BJP candidate was elected unopposed in Surat. Local-body elections for 15 corporations and the panchayats were held on 26 April 2026 after the 27 per cent OBC quota announced in 2023. Vav-Tharad became the 34th district on 2 October 2025.

For exam preparation

• The Mahagujarat movement ran from 8 August 1956 to 1 May 1960 and was led by Indulal Yagnik's Mahagujarat Janata Parishad.
• Gujarat was created on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
• The Navnirman movement began on 20 December 1973 at L. D. College, Ahmedabad; the Chief Minister resigned on 9 February 1974.
• The BJP won its first Assembly majority in 1995 (121 seats).
• The Godhra train fire was on 27 February 2002; the Assembly election followed on 12 December 2002.
• The Patidar rally of 25 August 2015 was at the GMDC grounds, Ahmedabad.

Budget and governance

The 2026-27 budget was presented on 18 February 2026, with total expenditure of Rs 3,60,122 crore excluding debt repayment (Rs 4,03,374 crore including Rs 43,252 crore of debt repayment). The figures below are budget estimates as on 4 October 2026, from PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the 2026-27 budget, and will be replaced each February. The name of the Finance Minister is not given here because it can change.

Key numbers

Item	2026-27 (budget estimate)
Total expenditure (excluding debt repayment)	Rs 3,60,122 crore, up 13 per cent on the 2025-26 revised estimate
Revenue receipts	Rs 2,71,602 crore, up 7 per cent; Rs 1,94,050 crore (71 per cent) from the state's own resources and Rs 77,552 crore (29 per cent) from the Centre
Own tax revenue	Rs 1,64,222 crore (4.9 per cent of GSDP); State GST Rs 80,127 crore (49 per cent of own tax revenue)
State's share in central taxes	Rs 57,254 crore
Capital outlay	Rs 1,07,160 crore, up 25 per cent on 2025-26
Revenue surplus	Rs 25,587 crore (0.8 per cent of GSDP)
Fiscal deficit	Rs 65,520 crore (2 per cent of GSDP)
Outstanding liabilities	14.7 per cent of GSDP at the end of 2026-27
GSDP (current prices)	Rs 33,24,676 crore, projected up 11 per cent

Committed expenditure on salaries, pensions and interest is Rs 1,18,144 crore, which is 43 per cent of revenue receipts and limits the room for new spending.

Headline allocations

By sector (PRS): education Rs 51,796 crore, transport Rs 29,929 crore, urban development Rs 28,646 crore and health Rs 24,920 crore (7.1 per cent of the budget). PRS notes that this is below the 8 per cent level for health that the Comptroller and Auditor General has flagged. Among additions to capital spending, transport receives Rs 4,073 crore, urban development Rs 3,413 crore and irrigation and flood control Rs 3,193 crore more than the year before. Allocations for agriculture, energy, social welfare and police were not captured in the sources opened and are left out.

Governance and reforms

Wikipedia's summary of the state lists e-Dhara, SWAGAT, GSWAN and Digital Gujarat as digital governance programmes. The Vibrant Gujarat Summit, launched in 2003, is a biennial investment conference. Details of what each platform does, their launch years and any award claims were not verified for this guide. The state's fiscal-responsibility law and its provisions were not confirmed either, so they are not described here.

For exam preparation

• The 2026-27 budget was presented on 18 February 2026 with expenditure of Rs 3,60,122 crore excluding debt repayment.
• The fiscal deficit target is 2 per cent of GSDP (Rs 65,520 crore) and the revenue surplus is Rs 25,587 crore.
• Capital outlay is Rs 1,07,160 crore, up 25 per cent.
• State GST is the largest own tax at Rs 80,127 crore, 49 per cent of own tax revenue.
• Outstanding liabilities are projected at 14.7 per cent of GSDP at the end of 2026-27.

Economy

Gujarat is one of India's most industrialised states and, by most measures, one of the four or five largest state economies. Its output leans toward manufacturing (refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, diamonds, automobiles), it handles a very large share of the country's sea trade, and it has a strong cooperative and trading tradition. As on October 2026, the budget documents analysed by PRS Legislative Research put projected GSDP for 2026-27 at ₹33,24,676 crore. GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) is the total value of goods and services produced inside a state in a year.

Size, growth and income

The figures below come from the Gujarat budget for 2026-27 as analysed by PRS, which in turn uses the state's Socio-Economic Review 2025-26, and from a state government release of December 2025. Figures for the latest years are estimates and are revised later.

Indicator	Value	Source and year
GSDP, current prices	₹27,03,518 crore (2024-25 actual)	Budget documents via PRS
GSDP, current prices	₹29,84,449 crore (2025-26 revised estimate)	Budget documents via PRS
GSDP, current prices	₹33,24,676 crore (2026-27 projection), up 11%	Budget documents via PRS
GSDP growth, constant prices (2011-12 base)	7.4% in 2024-25, against 6.5% for India	Socio-Economic Review 2025-26 via PRS
Per capita GSDP, current prices	₹3,71,016 in 2024-25, up 9% (India: ₹2,34,859)	Socio-Economic Review 2025-26 via PRS
Per capita income, current prices	₹3,00,957 in 2023-24, first time above ₹3 lakh	State government release, 5 Dec 2025, as reported by a news agency
Average annual growth	8.42% from 2012-13 to 2023-24	Same release, as reported

"Current prices" means the value in that year's rupees; "constant prices" removes inflation and is the right basis for measuring real growth. Per capita GSDP (output divided by population) and per capita income (average income of residents) are different measures, and the two rows above are for different years, so do not compare them directly.

We have seen Gujarat described as the fourth-largest and the fifth-largest state economy depending on the year and the source, so we do not state a rank. It is, in any case, a top-five state economy with a per capita figure well above the national average.

How the economy is structured

For 2024-25, PRS (citing the Socio-Economic Review) reports the shares of the state economy at current prices as follows.

Sector	Share of the state economy, 2024-25
Manufacturing (industry)	43.9%
Services	36.6%
Agriculture and allied activities	19.5%

Two features stand out. First, industry is the largest sector, which is unusual among large Indian states, where services normally lead. Second, agriculture is still about a fifth of the economy and employs a much larger share of people, so farm incomes matter for rural Gujarat even though factories drive the headline figures.

A news-agency summary of the state's own release (December 2025) put manufacturing at about ₹7.43 lakh crore in 2023-24, which it described as roughly a third of gross value added. Different base years and definitions explain why that share differs from PRS's 2024-25 figure; we rely on PRS for the sector split.

Exports are a defining strength. A widely used reference page reports Gujarat's merchandise exports at about US$116.33 billion in 2024-25, around 26.6% of India's total. We have seen this figure only in that secondary source, so treat it as reported. Refined petroleum products, chemicals, gems and jewellery, and engineering goods are the usual leading items.

Public finances

The budget for 2026-27 was presented on 18 February 2026. The table is PRS's analysis of the budget documents.

Item (2026-27 budget estimate)	Value
Total expenditure (excluding debt repayment)	₹3,60,122 crore, up 13% on the 2025-26 revised estimate
Total outlay as widely reported	about ₹4.08 lakh crore
Capital outlay	₹1,07,160 crore, up 25%
Revenue surplus	₹25,587 crore, 0.8% of GSDP
Fiscal deficit	₹65,520 crore, 2% of GSDP (1.9% in the 2025-26 revised estimate)
Outstanding public debt	14.7% of GSDP at the end of 2026-27
Own tax revenue	₹1,64,222 crore, 4.9% of GSDP
Central transfers	₹77,552 crore, 29% of revenue receipts
Outstanding guarantees (31 March 2025)	₹1,421 crore, about 0.05% of GSDP

Fiscal deficit is the gap between total spending and receipts other than borrowing; a revenue surplus means day-to-day revenue exceeds day-to-day spending. The state's fiscal rules are set by the Gujarat Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2005. For 2026-31 the 16th Finance Commission recommends a fiscal deficit limit of 3% of GSDP for states, so Gujarat's 2% target sits well inside that ceiling.

On the tax side, State GST is the largest own-tax item (about 49% of own tax revenue in 2026-27, ₹80,127 crore), followed by sales tax/VAT (₹33,780 crore), stamp duty and registration (₹21,000 crore), taxes on electricity (₹13,022 crore) and vehicles (₹7,201 crore). State excise is very small (₹264 crore) because Gujarat has long been a prohibition state. About 71% of revenue receipts are raised by the state itself, a higher share than in many states.

Committed spending (salaries about 20% of revenue receipts, pensions 11%, plus interest) limits room elsewhere. The PRS note also records that the state budgeted ₹20,000 crore from disinvestment of state public-sector undertakings in 2026-27, after actual receipts from this source were zero in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Jobs and poverty

We did not open a source for the state's latest unemployment rate or NITI Aayog multidimensional poverty figures, so they are not given here. The Periodic Labour Force Survey and NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index are the places to find them.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat's GSDP for 2026-27 is projected at ₹33,24,676 crore, up 11% on 2025-26.
• Per capita GSDP in 2024-25 was ₹3,71,016 (India: ₹2,34,859); per capita income crossed ₹3 lakh in 2023-24.
• In 2024-25 manufacturing was about 43.9% of the economy, services 36.6% and agriculture 19.5%.
• The 2026-27 budget targets a fiscal deficit of 2% of GSDP and a revenue surplus of 0.8%.
• The Gujarat Fiscal Responsibility Act is dated 2005; State GST is the largest own-tax source.

Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy

Gujarat's farming is led by cash crops (cotton, groundnut, castor, spices) rather than cereals. Its forests hold the world's only wild Asiatic lions, its mines supply limestone, bauxite, lignite, oil and salt, and it has one of India's densest industrial belts and a fast-growing renewable-energy sector in Kutch.

Crops

Gujarat's farm economy is built around cash crops.

• Cotton. Gujarat is among the leading cotton states. A reference table drawn from the Economic Survey attributes about 27.9% of India's cotton output to Gujarat in 2023-24; we saw this figure only as reported and could not confirm the unit of the underlying table, so we give the share only.
• Groundnut. The same table gives Gujarat about 4.64 million tonnes of groundnut in 2023-24, about 45% of the national total. For the 2025-26 kharif (monsoon) season, the state's first advance estimate, as reported, is about 46 lakh tonnes from 22.02 lakh hectares, an area up 15% from 19.09 lakh hectares in 2024-25, though yield fell from 2,210 to 2,092 kg a hectare.
• Castor. Gujarat produces the large majority of India's castor seed. Reported shares are about 85% in 2019-20 and about 86% more recently.
• Cumin (jeera). Gujarat and Rajasthan together grow around 90% of India's cumin, and Unjha in north Gujarat is widely called the cumin trading capital. In the 2025-26 season Gujarat's sown area was reported at 4.08 lakh hectares, down 14.34% on the previous year, with output projected at 42-45 lakh bags of cumin against 48-50 lakh in Rajasthan (trade estimates, reported).

Other well-known crops are isabgol (psyllium husk), fennel, wheat, bajra, tobacco and sugarcane, and Kesar mango from the Gir area (GI-tagged). We did not open production tables for these, so no figures are given.

Dairy and the Amul model

Dairy is the clearest Gujarat success story. Amul began on 14 December 1946 as the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union in Anand district, founded by Tribhuvandas Patel to give farmers a fair price against private traders; Verghese Kurien joined in 1949 and led its growth. It follows a three-tier cooperative model: village societies, district unions and a state federation, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). Operation Flood later extended the model nationwide.

For 2024-25, reports on the federation's results say GCMMF's turnover rose 11% to about ₹65,911 crore, and the combined, de-duplicated turnover of the Amul brand was about ₹90,000 crore. The federation is reported to have 18 member unions and about 36 lakh farmers in about 18,600 villages (company-reported figures).

Water for agriculture

The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada anchors the canal network (see the transport section). In the 2026-27 budget the state allocated ₹19,589 crore to irrigation and flood control, ₹16,280 crore to agriculture and allied activities, and ₹7,926 crore as subsidy to power distribution companies for free electricity to farmers (PRS).

Forests and wildlife

We could not open the latest India State of Forest Report for Gujarat, so no forest-cover percentage is given; the Forest Survey of India publishes it.

The Asiatic lion is the state animal. In the 16th lion census (10-13 May 2025), the population in Gujarat was estimated at 891, up from 674 in 2020, a rise of about 32%. The estimate comprised 196 adult males, 330 adult females, 140 sub-adults and 225 cubs; 384 were inside Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary and 507 outside it. Earlier counts were 411 (2010), 523 (2015) and 674 (2020).

Gir covers about 1,410 sq km across Junagadh, Gir Somnath and Amreli districts, of which about 258.71 sq km is the fully protected national park (reference page); it was established in 1965 and is closed from 16 June to 15 October. Gujarat has five Ramsar wetlands: Nalsarovar (designated 2012), Thol Lake and Wadhvana (2021), Khijadiya (2021) and Chhari-Dhand.

Minerals

We found no single official source for current production ranks, so the list names what is produced, without ranks or quantities (general knowledge; no source opened). Oil and gas come from onshore fields of the Cambay basin around Ankleshwar, Kalol and Mehsana. Lignite is mined in Kutch. Limestone feeds the cement industry of Saurashtra, and bauxite occurs around Jamnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka. Salt is made from seawater and brine on the Kutch and Saurashtra coasts; Gujarat is commonly called India's largest salt producer, which we could not confirm. Agates are worked at Khambhat (Cambay).

Industry

• Refining and petrochemicals. Reliance's Jamnagar complex is described by the company as the largest and most complex single-site refinery in the world, with a crude processing capacity of 1.4 million barrels a day and a complexity index of 21.1. Dahej in Bharuch district is a large petrochemical and chemical region.
• Diamonds and textiles. Surat is one of the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing centres and a major synthetic-textile and yarn hub.
• Pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Ankleshwar and Vapi are key centres (reference page).
• Automobiles and electronics. Sanand near Ahmedabad is a car and component hub. A reference page reports a Micron assembly and test facility at Sanand (about US$2.75 billion) and Tata Electronics' planned ₹91,000 crore semiconductor fab at Dholera, described as under development.
• Ship recycling. Alang in Bhavnagar district is one of the world's largest ship-recycling yards.
• Ceramics. Morbi is a well-known tiles and sanitaryware cluster (general knowledge).

GIFT City and Dholera

GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) in Gandhinagar district is India's first International Financial Services Centre. A reference page gives its establishment as 10 April 2015 and its area as 359 hectares. It hosts two international exchanges (India INX and NSE IX, both established in 2017) and an international bullion exchange. SGX Nifty was renamed GIFT Nifty in July 2023. BSE called off a planned merger of the two exchange units in 2024. Entity counts change fast, so none is given.

Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), in Ahmedabad district about 100 km southwest of Ahmedabad, is a planned greenfield industrial city under the Special Investment Region Act, 2009, covering over 920 sq km. Its development company is owned 51% by Gujarat and 49% by the Centre. A reference page reports the 109 km Ahmedabad-Dholera expressway as opened in 2026. For the airport, the civil aviation ministry said in July 2026 that construction was about 80% complete, with operations targeted for September-October 2026; we have no confirmation that it has opened.

Energy

As on April 2026, a reference page gives installed generation capacity of about 72,932 MW (reported; no official source opened). Key elements:

• Renewables. The Gujarat Hybrid Renewable Energy Park at Khavda in Kutch (Vighakot village) is planned at 30 GW of solar and wind on about 72,600 hectares of wasteland; 1 GW was commissioned in March 2024 and about 9.4 GW by April 2026, with completion targeted by 2029 (reported).
• Hydro. Sardar Sarovar's powerhouses total 1,450 MW (reference page).
• Nuclear. The Kakrapar atomic power station is on the Tapi (general knowledge).
• Gas. LNG import terminals operate at Dahej, Hazira and Mundra (reported).

For exam preparation

• Asiatic lion census (10-13 May 2025): 891 lions, up from 674 in 2020; earlier counts 411 (2010) and 523 (2015).
• Amul began as the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union on 14 December 1946; GCMMF is the state federation.
• Jamnagar refinery capacity is 1.4 million barrels a day, per Reliance.
• GIFT City is India's first IFSC, established 10 April 2015; Dholera is a Special Investment Region under the 2009 Act.
• Gujarat leads in groundnut, castor and, with Rajasthan, in cumin; Unjha is the cumin market town.
• Khavda in Kutch is the planned 30 GW hybrid renewable-energy park.

Transport and infrastructure

Gujarat's transport network is built around its long coast, the rail and road corridors to Mumbai and Delhi, and its metro cities. It has a very large private port at Mundra, a major government port at Kandla, a metro in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, and the western end of India's first bullet-train corridor.

Ports and shipping

Gujarat has one major port (Deendayal Port) and 48 non-major ports run by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), 49 in all (maritime news site). The GMB, set up in 1982, gives the coastline as 1,600 km; other sources say 1,214 km or 2,340 km, depending on how islands are counted. All call it India's longest.

Port	Notes
Deendayal Port (Kandla)	Major port in Kutch, built in the 1950s after Partition; renamed Deendayal in 2017. The port authority's press note reports record cargo of 160.11 million tonnes in 2025-26.
Mundra	Private port in Kutch run by the Adani group. Reported at about 215 million tonnes in 2025-26, against 200.7 million tonnes in 2024-25 (single secondary source, treat as reported).
Pipavav	Private container port in Amreli district (general knowledge)
Hazira, Dahej, Sikka	Non-major ports serving industry and LNG

The GMB reports that its ports handled 484 million tonnes in 2025-26 (down 0.82%, which it attributes to geopolitical tension), about 29% of India's total cargo and 64% of non-major-port traffic nationally.

Rail

Most of Gujarat is served by Western Railway, with divisions at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar (general knowledge). A reference page calls the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor fully operational in 2026; we have not confirmed this officially.

Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail

The 508 km corridor has 12 stations, eight of them in Gujarat (Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand/Nadiad, Ahmedabad, Sabarmati). As on August 2026, trade-press reports say 453 km of piers and 359 km of viaduct are complete, and the first operation is targeted for August 2027 on the 100 km Surat-Vapi stretch, with the whole corridor expected by 2029. An April 2026 report gave overall physical progress as 59.1%. Dates have moved before, so check the latest news.

Metro

The Ahmedabad Metro opened its first section on 4 March 2019. Phase 2 links Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar: the first part opened on 16 September 2024 and the last stretch (Sector 10A to Mahatma Mandir) on 11 January 2026, per a reference page, which puts the network at about 67.6 km and 54 stations (reported). The 2026-27 budget allocates ₹2,217 crore to metro projects in Ahmedabad and Surat (PRS).

Airports

The main airport is Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (13.4 million passengers in 2024-25, reference page). Rajkot and Surat are also listed as international airports. Dholera International Airport is under construction (see the previous section).

Roads

The 2026-27 budget sets aside ₹21,310 crore as capital outlay on roads and bridges and ₹29,929 crore for transport overall (PRS).

Sardar Sarovar and the Statue of Unity

The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada rises 138.68 m above the riverbed (163 m from its deepest foundation) and is 1,210 m long. Jawaharlal Nehru laid its foundation stone on 5 April 1961; construction began in April 1987; it was inaugurated on 17 September 2017, and the reservoir reached its full level on 15 September 2019. The reservoir holds 9.46 cubic km and serves Gujarat, with shares for Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan). The Statue of Unity, honouring Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, stands near the dam at Kevadia in Narmada district. It is 182 m high, was inaugurated on 31 October 2018, and was designed by sculptor Ram V. Sutar and built by Larsen and Toubro for a reported ₹2,989 crore.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat has one major port, Deendayal (Kandla, renamed 2017), and 48 non-major ports under the Gujarat Maritime Board, formed in 1982.
• The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet-train corridor is 508 km with 12 stations; the first section is targeted for August 2027.
• Ahmedabad Metro's first section opened on 4 March 2019.
• The Sardar Sarovar Dam was inaugurated on 17 September 2017; the Statue of Unity (182 m) was inaugurated on 31 October 2018.

Culture, tribes and heritage

Gujarat's culture reflects centuries of sea trade, Jain and Hindu devotional traditions, Islamic and Parsi settlement, and the Gandhian movement. The state has an unusually deep craft tradition (woven and dyed textiles, embroidery, blocks and stone), a calendar of seasonal fairs, and one of the world's best-known folk dances. UNESCO added "Garba of Gujarat" to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 6 December 2023, at the committee's 18th session in Kasane, Botswana; it was reported as India's 15th such inscription.

Languages and literature

Gujarati is the official language. A reference page notes about eleven dialects, along with Kutchi, Sindhi and other languages used locally. Hindi and English are widely used in towns. We have not opened a source for exact language-speaker counts; Census 2011 data are in the Demography section.

Gujarati literature starts in the medieval bhakti tradition. Narsinh Mehta, the 15th-century poet-saint of Junagadh, is traditionally called the first poet (Adi Kavi) of Gujarati. Gujarati cinema is said to have begun in 1932 with a film on Narsinh Mehta (reference page). Four Gujarati writers have won the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour.

Writer	Jnanpith year
Umashankar Joshi	1967 (for the poetry collection Nishita)
Pannalal Patel	1985
Rajendra Shah	2001
Raghuveer Chaudhari	2015

Tribes

According to Census 2011, as summarised on a reference page, Gujarat has 29 Scheduled Tribes (STs) with a combined population of about 8.9 million, or 14.75% of the state. Bhil and related groups form nearly half (47.3%). The highest ST shares by district are in the Dangs (94.65%), Narmada (81.55%) and Dahod (74.32%). There are 12 designated Scheduled Areas (Fifth Schedule). Gujarat's five Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) are generally listed as Kathodi, Kotwalia, Padhar, Siddi and Kolgha; we did not open a source to check this list, so treat it as general knowledge.

Tribe	Population, Census 2011	Where mainly found
Bhil (with related groups)	nearly 4.2 million	East and north-east belt: Dahod, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Banaskantha and Sabarkantha
Dubla (Halpati)	643,120	South Gujarat: Surat, Valsad, Navsari, Tapi
Rathwa	642,348	Chhota Udepur and Vadodara area
Dhodia	635,695	South Gujarat: Valsad, Navsari
Naikda	459,908	South and central Gujarat

District details in the last column are general knowledge and should be cross-checked with the Census tables. Other major groups include Gamit, Chodhri, Kokna and Varli (Warli) in the south, and the Siddi, descendants of East African settlers, in the Gir and Saurashtra region.

Folk dance, music and theatre

• Garba is a circular dance in which people move around a lamp or an image of the goddess; Dandiya Raas is the stick dance. Both are performed mainly during Navratri.
• Bhavai is a folk-theatre form of satirical plays in the villages, traditionally attributed to the 14th-century poet Asait Thakar (general knowledge; no source opened).
• Tippani is the working song-and-dance of the Chorwad coast in Saurashtra, performed with long staffs while pounding lime floors (general knowledge).
• Siddi Dhamal is the drum and dance tradition of the Siddi community.
• Dangi dance is performed by tribal groups of the Dangs, especially around festivals such as Holi.
• Garbi and bhajan traditions, which draw on Narsinh Mehta's devotional poetry, are part of everyday life.

Festivals and fairs

Festival or fair	Where and when
Navratri	Nine nights in autumn (Ashwin), across the state; Garba and Dandiya Raas
Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti)	14 January; kite flying, especially in Ahmedabad and an international kite festival
Rann Utsav	Dhordo in the White Rann, Kutch; the 2026-27 season runs from 1 November 2026 to 7 March 2027 (official site)
Modhera Dance Festival	At the Sun Temple, Mehsana district; each January since 1992 (reference page)
Tarnetar Fair	Surendranagar district, around the Bhadrapad month; known for folk dress and a marriage-market tradition (general knowledge)
Madhavpur Ghed Fair	Porbandar district, around Ram Navami; linked to the Krishna-Rukmini wedding (general knowledge)
Janmashtami	Dwarka and across the state
Rath Yatra	Ahmedabad, on Ashadhi Bij
Dang Darbar	The Dangs, around Holi (general knowledge)

Dates of fairs move with the lunar calendar; check the state tourism site each year. Rows marked "general knowledge" are from our own background and were not checked against an opened source.

Religion and social reform

Gujarat has long been a meeting ground of faiths: Hindu (Vaishnav, Shaiva and Swaminarayan traditions), Jain (strong in Palitana, Ahmedabad and Saurashtra), Muslim, Parsi (the community that settled on the south Gujarat coast) and others. The Swaminarayan movement and the bhakti poets are noted on a reference page. Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram and the Dandi March of 1930 tie the state to the freedom struggle (general knowledge). Census 2011 religion shares are in the Demography section.

Cuisine

Gujarati food is mainly vegetarian and mixes sweet, salty and sour tastes. Common items are dhokla, khandvi, thepla, khakhra, fafda-jalebi, kadhi and the thali. Undhiyu, a winter mixed-vegetable dish, is associated with Surat. Cuisine differs by region: a reference page notes bajra and maize dishes in the north and jowar in the south, influenced by neighbouring Maharashtra.

Handicrafts and GI tags

Gujarat has one of India's richest craft traditions.

• Patan Patola. A double-ikat woven silk sari from Patan, in which both warp and weft threads are tie-dyed before weaving. The Salvi family is the best-known weaving family (general knowledge). Rajkot Patola is a separate GI entry.
• Bandhani (Bandhej). Tie-and-dye textile from Kutch, Saurashtra and Jamnagar. Jamnagari Bandhani is GI-tagged.
• Kutch embroidery, Kachchh shawls and Ajrakh. The Kutch embroidery and shawls have GI tags (see the table). Ajrakh is a block-printed cloth of Kutch (no GI year was confirmed).
• Sankheda furniture, Khambhat agate, Surat zari and Pethapur printing blocks are other GI crafts.
• Rogan painting at Nirona in Kutch and Pithora painting of the Rathwa tribe are known folk art forms.

The list of GI registrations below is compiled from a reference page. It reflects the entries we could confirm, not the full register, so it should not be read as complete. The year is the financial year of registration given in that source.

GI-tagged product	Year registered
Kutch Embroidery	2008-09
Sankheda Furniture	2008-09
Agates of Cambay (Khambhat)	2008-09
Tangaliya Shawl	2009-10
Surat Zari Craft	2010-11
Kachchh Shawls	2011-12
Gir Kesar Mango	2011-12
Patan Patola	2013-14
Jamnagari Bandhani	2016-17
Rajkot Patola	2018-19
Pethapur Printing Blocks	2018-19
Pithora (painting)	2021-22

Architecture and heritage

Gujarat's architecture draws on the Chaulukya (Solanki) temple style, Indo-Islamic buildings of the Sultanate of Gujarat, step-wells (vavs), Jain temples and colonial buildings. The Sun Temple at Modhera was built in the reign of Bhima I in the 11th century (the shrine completed after 1026-27) and has a stepped tank (kund) and an assembly hall with 52 carved pillars. Rani ki Vav at Patan is attributed to Udayamati, wife of the same king, begun in 1063. Ahmedabad was founded in 1411 by Ahmad Shah I as the Gujarat Sultanate's capital. Gujarat also has the largest number of Harappan (Indus) sites of any state, including Dholavira and Lothal, according to a reference page that counts 23 sites.

For exam preparation

• Garba of Gujarat was inscribed by UNESCO on 6 December 2023, India's 15th intangible heritage entry.
• Gujarat has 29 Scheduled Tribes (Census 2011); the Dangs has the highest ST share (94.65%).
• Four Gujarati writers have won the Jnanpith Award: Umashankar Joshi (1967), Pannalal Patel (1985), Rajendra Shah (2001) and Raghuveer Chaudhari (2015).
• Patan Patola (GI 2013-14) is a double-ikat silk sari; Jamnagari Bandhani is GI-tagged (2016-17).
• The Rann Utsav is held at Dhordo in the White Rann of Kutch; the 2026-27 season starts 1 November 2026.
• Narsinh Mehta is traditionally called Gujarati's Adi Kavi.

Tourism and places of interest

Gujarat's tourism spans pilgrimage towns, Harappan and medieval monuments, the only wild lion habitat in Asia, the white salt desert of Kutch and a growing business-travel segment. A reference page says Gujarat drew 19.5 million domestic and 210 thousand foreign tourists in 2020 and rose to fifth among states for domestic visits by 2022 (not confirmed from an official source).

World Heritage and UNESCO sites

Site	Year	Notes
Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park	2004	Remains from several periods, including the 16th-century capital of the Gujarat Sultanate; Hindu and Jain temples and the Jama Masjid, in Panchmahal district
Rani ki Vav (Queen's Stepwell), Patan	2014 (22 June)	11th-century stepwell of the Chaulukya period; about 65 m long, 20 m wide and 28 m deep; on the Rs 100 note since July 2018
Historic City of Ahmadabad	2017	Walled city founded 1411; timber-based houses (pols) and mixed religious architecture
Dholavira: a Harappan City	2021	Walled Bronze Age city of the Harappan civilisation, with water-management systems, in Kutch
Garba of Gujarat (intangible heritage)	2023 (6 December)	Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage

On India's Tentative List for future nomination (UNESCO) are, among others, the Little Rann of Kutch wild ass sanctuary (2006), Lothal (2014), the Sun Temple at Modhera and its adjoining monuments (2022) and Vadnagar (2022). Modhera is therefore not a World Heritage Site; it is a "Monument of National Importance" under the Archaeological Survey of India.

Key places

Place	Why it matters
Statue of Unity, Kevadia (Narmada)	182 m statue of Sardar Patel, inaugurated 31 October 2018
Gir National Park and Sanctuary	Only wild habitat of the Asiatic lion; closed 16 June to 15 October
Somnath (Gir Somnath)	Shiva temple among the 12 jyotirlingas (general knowledge)
Dwarka	Krishna pilgrimage town on the coast, one of the Char Dham (general knowledge)
Palitana (Bhavnagar)	Shatrunjaya hill of Jain temples; a reference page says more than 900
Girnar (Junagadh)	Gujarat's highest peak; Jain and Hindu sites; Ashoka's rock edict is at the foot of the hill (general knowledge)
Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad	Gandhi's base from 1917 and the starting point of the 1930 Dandi March (general knowledge)
White Rann and Dhordo, Kutch	Salt desert of about 7,500 sq km (reference page); Rann Utsav site
Modhera Sun Temple	11th-century Surya temple, ASI-protected
Adalaj, Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, Kankaria (Ahmedabad)	Stepwell, mosque with latticed windows and a lakefront (general knowledge)
Saputara and Pavagadh	Hill stations (reference page)
Ambaji	Shakti pilgrimage site in Banaskantha (general knowledge)
Lothal (Ahmedabad district)	Harappan port-town on the tentative list
Gandhinagar and GIFT City	Capital and international financial centre

Protected areas and wetlands

Beyond Gir, notable protected areas include the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch and the five Ramsar wetlands (Nalsarovar, Thol, Wadhvana, Khijadiya, Chhari-Dhand) listed in the Agriculture section. We did not open a source for the total number of national parks and sanctuaries, so it is not given. Gujarat is also a prohibition state, which affects hospitality and travel planning.

For exam preparation

• Gujarat has four World Heritage Sites: Champaner-Pavagadh (2004), Rani ki Vav (2014), Historic City of Ahmadabad (2017) and Dholavira (2021).
• Rani ki Vav appears on the Rs 100 banknote and is a Chaulukya-period stepwell at Patan.
• Modhera Sun Temple is on the UNESCO Tentative List (2022), not the World Heritage List.
• Palitana's Shatrunjaya hill is a major Jain pilgrimage site.
• The Statue of Unity is 182 m high and was inaugurated on 31 October 2018.
• Gir is closed from 16 June to 15 October each year.

Education, health, sports and personalities

Gujarat has a strong higher-education and research base centred on Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, a Gandhian university tradition, and a growing set of national institutions. Literacy is above the national average on recent surveys, health indicators show gaps in public-sector staffing, and the state has hosted major cricket matches and will host a Commonwealth Games.

Literacy

Measure	Total	Male	Female
Census 2011	78.03%	85.75%	69.68%
PLFS 2024 (survey estimate)	84.6%	91.2%	77.5%

Census figures count literacy among people aged seven and above. The PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey) is a sample survey, so it is not strictly comparable with the Census, and we have not checked its age definition. Census 2011 also gives a sex ratio of 919 and an urban share of 42.6% (see the Demography section).

Universities and institutes

Institution	Facts
IIM Ahmedabad	Founded 11 December 1961 by Vikram Sarabhai and Kasturbhai Lalbhai, with Ravi J. Matthai as first director; campus designed by Louis Kahn; reported as first among business schools in the NIRF in 2024; opened a Dubai campus in September 2025
IIT Gandhinagar	One of eight new IITs announced in 2008; permanent campus at Palaj on the Sabarmati; NIRF 2024: 36th overall, 25th in engineering
AIIMS Rajkot	Foundation stone laid 31 December 2020; started the MBBS programme with 50 students, a first batch reported from the 2020-21 cycle; located on a 201-acre campus
Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad	Founded by Mahatma Gandhi on 18 October 1920 as a national university; deemed university from 1963; past chancellors include Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Morarji Desai

The state also has the Gujarat University, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara), Sardar Patel University, Saurashtra University and the National Institute of Design. We did not open sources for their founding years, so none are given here. Other national-level institutions in Gandhinagar include the Gujarat National Law University, the National Forensic Sciences University and Rashtriya Raksha University, listed from general knowledge. The Indian Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) is at Anand.

Health

We did not open the National Family Health Survey fact sheet for Gujarat, so no NFHS-5 indicators are given here. A CAG report (2024), summarised by PRS, found a 23% shortage of doctors and of paramedics in public health institutions as of March 2022. It also found that only 19 of 33 districts had a district hospital. The 2026-27 budget allocates ₹24,920 crore to health and family welfare (7.1% of the budget, against the National Health Policy 2017 guidance of at least 8%), and ₹3,256 crore for the Arogya Suraksha Yojana (PRS). See the Government schemes section for the health insurance programme.

Sports

The Ahmedabad stadium at Motera, which replaced the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, has a reported capacity of 132,000 and is described as the world's largest cricket stadium. It hosted the 2023 Cricket World Cup final and several IPL finals (reference page). On 26 November 2025, the Commonwealth Sport General Assembly in Glasgow selected Ahmedabad as host of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, which will be the centenary edition; the Games are reported for October 2030.

Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji of Nawanagar (Jamnagar), the Jam Sahib, played Test cricket for England in the 1890s and is the namesake of India's Ranji Trophy (general knowledge; no source opened). Para table tennis player Bhavina Patel won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics (general knowledge).

Notable people

Person	Known for
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), born at Porbandar	Leader of the freedom movement; founded Sabarmati Ashram and Gujarat Vidyapith
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), from Nadiad	First Deputy Prime Minister; integrated the princely states
Morarji Desai (1896-1995)	Prime Minister 1977-79
Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971)	Physicist; founded the Physical Research Laboratory and is regarded as the father of India's space programme (general knowledge)
Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002)	Founder of Reliance Industries
Narsinh Mehta	15th-century bhakti poet
Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883), from Tankara	Founder of the Arya Samaj
Tribhuvandas Patel and Verghese Kurien	Founders and builders of the Amul cooperative
Ela Bhatt (1933-2022)	Founder of SEWA, Ahmedabad

Birth places and dates in this table that are not tied to a source named above come from general knowledge and should be checked before use.

For exam preparation

• IIM Ahmedabad was founded on 11 December 1961; its campus was designed by Louis Kahn.
• IIT Gandhinagar was set up in 2008 and has its campus at Palaj on the Sabarmati.
• Gujarat Vidyapith was founded by Gandhi on 18 October 1920.
• Census 2011 literacy for Gujarat is 78.03% (male 85.75%, female 69.68%).
• Ahmedabad was selected on 26 November 2025 to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

Government schemes

Gujarat runs a mix of its own schemes and central programmes. The items below are named in the 2026-27 budget documents (PRS analysis, and a budget summary on a state news site) or are well-known central schemes. Amounts are budget allocations for 2026-27, not guarantees of benefit amounts, and eligibility rules change; each entry gives a one-line purpose only. Check the official notification for current eligibility and amounts.

Scheme	What it does	2026-27 allocation
Swarnim Jayanti Mukhya Mantri Shaheri Vikas Yojana	Funds urban infrastructure in cities and towns	₹13,446 crore (PRS)
Arogya Suraksha Yojana	State health-protection scheme (PRS names it under health)	₹3,256 crore (PRS)
PM-JAY (Ayushman Bharat) health cover	Hospital insurance for eligible families	₹3,202 crore (state news summary, reported)
Samagra Shiksha	Central school-education programme	₹1,951 crore (PRS)
Namo Lakshmi Yojana	Financial support for girls studying in Classes 9-12	₹1,250 crore (state news summary, reported)
Namo Saraswati Vigyan Sadhana	Support for students in the science stream	₹250 crore (state news summary, reported)
Interest-free crop loans	Interest-free credit up to ₹3 lakh for Kisan Credit Card holders	₹1,539 crore (PRS)
Free electricity subsidy for farmers	Subsidy to power distribution companies	₹7,926 crore (PRS)
Special nutrition programme	Nutrition support under social welfare	₹2,815 crore (PRS)
Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)	Rural employment and livelihood programme	₹1,500 crore (PRS)
PM SHRI Schools	Upgrading selected schools; budget plans 926 new schools	reported by a state news summary

Other themes in the same budget, as reported: Bio-CNG plants in the four zones of the state (₹112 crore, PRS); six centres of excellence for pulses, oilseeds and agro-processing (PRS); five industrial corporations in tribal areas and a rise in the annual maintenance grant for tribal students in Ekalavya residential schools from ₹70,000 to ₹80,000 (PRS).

We did not open an official page for older state schemes such as Vahli Dikri, Mukhyamantri Amrutam (MA) or Kisan Suryodaya, so their rules are not described here.

For exam preparation

• The Gujarat Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2005 sets the state's fiscal targets.
• Namo Lakshmi Yojana supports girls in Classes 9-12 (reported budget summary).
• PM-JAY is the central health-insurance scheme; PM SHRI upgrades selected schools.
• The 2026-27 budget supports farmers through interest-free Kisan Credit Card loans (up to ₹3 lakh) and free power subsidy.
• Swarnim Jayanti Mukhya Mantri Shaheri Vikas Yojana is the urban-development scheme.

Government exams in Gujarat

Government recruitment in Gujarat is split between several bodies, each with its own website and its own application portal. The Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) selects Class 1 and Class 2 officers and many specialist posts. The Gujarat Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal (Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board, GSSSB) fills Class 3 posts in departments. A separate Panchayat Service Selection Board handles Talati and some clerical posts. The Gujarat Police Recruitment Board runs the police exams, the State Examination Board runs the teacher tests, and the High Court recruits for the district judiciary. Vacancy numbers, dates, age limits and even exam patterns change between advertisements, so treat every figure below as a pointer and check the latest notification on the official site before you apply. We do not have a separate exam-guide page for most Gujarat exams yet; the closest pages are Gujarat government jobs and our online test series. Neighbouring state guides are Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC)

GPSC is the constitutional commission for the state (Article 315 gives every state a Public Service Commission). Its official site, as on 4 October 2026, listed notices on interview eligibility lists for Deputy Engineer posts, preliminary question papers, and a syllabus section that carries a preliminary-exam syllabus for Advertisement 5/2026-27 (published 16 April 2026) and a main-exam syllabus for the same advertisement (updated 31 July 2026). The previous cycle on the same page is Advertisement 240/2024-25. The page names the services in this cycle as Gujarat Administrative Service (Class 1), Gujarat Civil Services (Class 1 and 2) and Gujarat Municipal Chief Officer Service (Class 2).

Class 1 and 2 pattern (reported). The commission's own pages we opened show only the stages (preliminary, main, interview). The marks below come from exam-prep and portal sites that summarised the 2024-25 advertisement, so they are marked "reported". Two other sources we opened describe a two-paper preliminary of 200 marks each, which does not match the single-paper pattern below; this is exactly the kind of difference to settle on the advertisement.

Stage	Reported pattern
Preliminary	One objective paper in General Studies, 200 marks, 3 hours, in Gujarati and English. A screening test: marks are used to shortlist for the main and are not counted in the final merit. One-third mark is deducted per wrong answer, and 33% is needed to qualify.
Main	Seven descriptive papers, 3 hours each. Gujarati Language (300) and English Language (300) are qualifying, with 25% required. Essay and four General Studies papers of 250 marks each count for merit (1,250 marks). There is no optional subject.
Interview	150 marks, added to the main marks for the final merit (1,400 in all).

Some sources list the interview as 50 or 100 marks, and some list six main papers of 150 marks. Those look like older or different patterns. Follow the pattern in the advertisement for the cycle you are applying to.

Eligibility pointers (reported). A bachelor's degree from a recognised university (final-year students are allowed to apply), an age of 20 to 35 years for unreserved candidates, and no limit on attempts. The 2025 advertisement reported 244 posts and application dates from 7 to 23 March 2025, per a secondary portal; we did not open the notice itself. We did not confirm the post count for 2026-27.

Specialist GPSC exams. GPSC also advertises engineer, medical and other specialist posts separately (for example Deputy Engineer and Accounts Officer), each with its own pattern in its advertisement.

Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB)

GSSSB (Gujarat Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal, Gandhinagar) recruits for Class 3 posts in state departments. Its official site, as on 4 October 2026, shows the OJAS-based online application system, exam calendars, answer keys, syllabus and exam-scheme documents, and categories for persons with disabilities, ex-servicemen, sportspersons and widows. It did not show a post list on the front page.

Common Competitive Examination (CCE). The board groups many posts into one common exam. For the 2024 CCE, a secondary source reports 4,304 vacancies and a stage plan of preliminary, main and document verification. The preliminary exam is reported as a 100-question, 100-mark objective paper of 60 minutes with a deduction of 0.25 mark per wrong answer, with four parts: reasoning (40 marks), quantitative aptitude (30), English (15) and Gujarati (15). The reported main exam differs by group. Group A is three descriptive papers (Gujarati, English, General Studies) totalling 350 marks. Group B is a single 120-minute paper of 200 marks. The same source says the posts covered include junior clerk, senior clerk, head clerk, office assistant, sub-registrar and inspector. A separate search summary reports a later notification of 5,370 Group A and Group B vacancies; we could not open the notice behind it, so treat that figure as unconfirmed.

Typical qualification. A degree, with knowledge of Gujarati or Hindi and basic computer knowledge, reported for the CCE posts. Age is reported as 20 to 35 years.

Fixed-pay start. Many 2026 GSSSB Class 3 advertisements, as listed by job portals, state a fixed monthly pay for the first five years, then a regular pay scale (one reported example: Rs 49,600 fixed, then Level 7, Rs 39,900 to Rs 1,26,600). Amounts differ by post.

Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board (GPSSB): Talati and clerks

Talati (the village-level revenue and panchayat functionary) is not recruited by GSSSB. The Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board, Gandhinagar, advertises Talati cum Mantri (Gram Panchayat Secretary), Junior Clerk, Gram Sevak, Extension Officer, Multi-Purpose Health Worker, Female Health Worker, Laboratory Technician and Junior Pharmacist posts. Its exams are reported to be computer-based multiple-choice tests (CBRT) with one-third mark deducted per wrong answer. For a PwD special drive the board scheduled Talati cum Mantri on 18 February 2026 (10:00 to 11:00) and Junior Clerk the same day (14:00 to 15:00), with Work Assistant on 15 March 2026. The qualification is reported as a Class 12 pass, but check the advertisement, because posts differ. A reported 50-mark general awareness paper in Gujarati medium applies to the Talati exam; we could not confirm the full pattern.

Gujarat Police Recruitment Board

The Gujarat Police Recruitment Board runs two cadres. The PSI cadre includes unarmed and armed Police Sub-Inspector, PSI (Wireless), PSI (Motor Transport) and Jailer. The Lokrakshak cadre (LRD, the unarmed and armed constable posts) includes SRPF constables and jail sepoys. The official board site also lists Head Constable (Driver Mechanic) and Technical Operator.

According to a secondary report on the latest large drive, the board advertised 13,591 posts: 858 in the PSI cadre and 12,733 in the Lokrakshak cadre, with an application deadline of 23 December 2025. We did not verify these counts against the notice. The same report gives these pointers.

Item	Reported detail
Qualification	PSI: bachelor's degree. Lokrakshak: Class 12 pass.
Age	PSI: 21 to 35. Lokrakshak: 18 to 33.
Height	Male (non-ST): 165 cm; female (non-ST): 155 cm. Male chest: 79 cm unexpanded, 84 cm expanded.
Physical Efficiency Test	Male: 5,000 m in 25 minutes. Female: 1,600 m in 9 minutes 30 seconds. The run is qualifying and carries no merit marks.
Constable written exam	200 questions, 200 marks, 3 hours, 0.25 mark deducted per wrong answer.
PSI written exam	Paper 1: 200 MCQ marks. Paper 2: 100 marks, descriptive Gujarati and English. Reported 40% minimum in each part before Paper 2 is checked.
Stages	Physical standard test, physical efficiency test, written exam, medical examination, document verification.

Reported 2026 activity: a provisional answer key on 20 June 2026 for the Lokrakshak written exam held on 14 June 2026. Physical tests come before the written exam in the current stage order. Follow the schedule on the board's website.

TET, TAT and teacher recruitment

The Gujarat teacher eligibility tests are conducted by the Gujarat State Examination Board (Board of Secondary Education, sebexam.org). TET 1 is for classes 1 to 5 and TET 2 for classes 6 to 8. Reported pattern: 150 multiple-choice questions of one mark each, an OMR paper with no negative marking. The duration is reported as 150 minutes in one source and as 90 and 120 minutes in another, so verify it. Reported qualifying marks are 60% for general, 55% for OBC (SEBC) and 45% for SC, ST and PwD candidates. A reported rule change makes the TET certificate valid for life, up from seven years. Eligibility is reported as an Indian citizen of Gujarat domicile, 18 to 38 years, with a D.El.Ed or B.Ed depending on the paper.

The Teacher Aptitude Test (TAT) is the separate test for secondary and higher secondary teaching posts. It is reported as 200 questions, 200 marks, 3 hours, with 0.25 mark deducted per wrong answer. We could not confirm the current TAT stages and cut-offs; check the board site.

Gujarat High Court and district judiciary

The High Court of Gujarat, at Sola, Ahmedabad, recruits for the district judiciary, industrial courts and labour courts through a "centralised wait list" system. The Court's own notices, as on 4 October 2026, show recruitment pages for Gujarati Stenographer Grade III, Process Server or Bailiff, Librarian, and Librarian cum Research Assistant. The Court's September 2026 postings list names candidates by category such as General, SEBC, SC, EWS and women quotas (marked "-F"), and a Process Server list was marked out of 100 marks while a Driver list was marked out of 150. In an earlier cycle, secondary sources report 1,778 Assistant and 1,520 Peon vacancies, a screening test followed by a main written exam and a typing skill test for Assistants. We could not confirm the current pattern for Assistants or the body that conducts the Civil Judge exam, so we do not state it here.

For exam preparation

• GPSC selects Class 1 and 2 officers in three stages: preliminary, main and interview.
• The reported GPSC main exam has Gujarati and English as qualifying papers with 25% required, and no optional subject.
• The GPSC preliminary is reported as a screening test whose marks do not count in the final merit.
• GSSSB handles Class 3 department posts through a Common Competitive Examination; the reported preliminary is 100 questions in 60 minutes.
• Talati cum Mantri and Junior Clerk are advertised by the Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board, not GSSSB.
• The Gujarat Police Recruitment Board has two cadres, PSI and Lokrakshak, and the run test is qualifying.
• TET is conducted by the State Examination Board; the reported certificate validity is lifetime.

Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules

Gujarat does not have a single "domicile certificate required for every job" rule that we could confirm. What we could confirm is narrower. Reservation benefits for backward-class candidates in state recruitment are reported to be given only to those of Gujarat origin or domicile, the language rules require knowledge of Gujarati or Hindi, and many state exams carry Gujarati papers. Read the eligibility clause of each advertisement, because it controls who can apply and who gets the benefit.

Domicile and who can apply

• Reservation benefit: a search summary of a Gujarat recruitment advertisement states that reservation benefits are given only to domiciles of Gujarat. We did not open the source advertisement, so check the clause. Candidates from other states are generally treated as unreserved for state reserved-category posts, but confirm this against the rules of the post.
• Teacher posts: the TET page we opened reports "domicile in Gujarat" as an eligibility point.
• Language: under the Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967, a candidate is reported to need adequate knowledge of Gujarati or Hindi or both, and those appointed by direct selection are required to pass a language examination as the Government prescribes (a search summary of the rules, not the rules themselves). GPSC mains makes this concrete with qualifying Gujarati and English papers; the 2025 advertisement's first main paper is reported as Gujarati only.
• Documents commonly asked for: caste certificate, non-creamy layer certificate for SEBC, EWS certificate, disability certificate. For the university-admission quota, the EWS income ceiling is reported as Rs 8 lakh a year; the same limit is generally used for jobs, but check the notice.

Reservation percentages

Gujarat's quotas, as reported on a university-admission reservation page and by news reports from 2019, are below. The same percentages are widely stated for state jobs, but we did not open the government resolution for jobs, so verify against the advertisement.

Category	Reported reservation
SC	7%
ST	15%
SEBC (OBC)	27%
EWS (general category)	10%
Persons with disabilities	3% (admission page)
Defence personnel and ex-servicemen	1% (admission page)
Women	33% horizontal, across all categories, in state government jobs (news reports)

The vertical total of SC, ST, SEBC and EWS is 59%. Gujarat introduced the EWS quota in January 2019, after the Constitution (103rd Amendment). The 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney (1992) applies to the SC, ST and OBC quota; the EWS quota sits outside it. "Horizontal" means women are selected within each category: the High Court posting lists show labels such as General-F and SEBC-F, which is how this appears in practice.

Age limits and relaxation

• Class 1 and 2 (GPSC) and the CCE (GSSSB): 20 to 35 years for unreserved candidates, reported.
• Police: PSI 21 to 35, Lokrakshak 18 to 33, reported.
• TET: 18 to 38, reported.
• Relaxation: a search summary of a government circular reports 5 years for women of the unreserved category and for SEBC and ST candidates of Gujarat origin, and 10 years for women of SEBC and ST, in each case up to a maximum of 45 years. A High Court judgment on a Gujarati Stenographer advertisement (2022) shows the same 45-year ceiling for unreserved women, with a base limit of 40 for that post. Different posts have different base limits, so never assume 35.
• Age is counted on the date given in the advertisement. The High Court judgment above shows that a candidate who exceeded the limit on the advertisement date was held ineligible, even though a court had earlier allowed provisional appearance.

Selection stages and typical cycles

• GPSC Class 1 and 2: preliminary, main, interview. Main merit counts, preliminary only shortlists.
• GSSSB and GPSSB: a common preliminary or single objective test, a main exam for some groups, then document verification. Many GPSSB tests are computer-based.
• Police: physical standards and run (qualifying), written exam, medical, document verification.
• Teachers: a TET or TAT pass is required, and recruitment is a separate step.
• Cycles: we found no fixed annual calendar for any Gujarat body and do not invent one; use the advertisement numbers (for example 5/2026-27) on the official sites.
• Fixed pay: many Class 3 posts start with five years on fixed pay, reported from 2026 advertisements, before moving to a pay scale.

How to use this guide for exam preparation

This page covers the state-specific part of the Gujarat syllabus. For GPSC, GSSSB and Police papers, the state-specific questions come from history, geography, culture, polity, economy and current affairs about Gujarat, plus Gujarati language where it is tested. Use the other parts of this guide for the content and this part for the exam map.

Which sections give the most marks

• History and culture: Harappan sites, Maurya, Gupta and Solanki periods, sultanate and Maratha rule, the freedom movement and the formation of Gujarat on 1 May 1960.
• Geography: rivers, coastline, Kutch, Saurashtra, soils, forests, sanctuaries and minerals.
• Polity and administration: Vidhan Sabha, High Court, Panchayati Raj, GPSC and reservation.
• Economy and culture: agriculture, industry, ports, dairy cooperatives, festivals, GI products and heritage sites.
• Current affairs: for the incumbent of any office, use current affairs, not this page.

A four-week revision plan

Week	Focus	What to do
1	History and culture	Read the history and culture parts, make a timeline, then solve Gujarat history questions in the online test series.
2	Geography and economy	Learn rivers, parks and districts; revise the economy section; note every figure with its as-on date.
3	Polity, schemes and exam rules	Revise the governance parts, the reservation rules and the exam map above; attempt a sectional test.
4	Rapid-fire and mocks	Revise the Rapid-fire table below twice, then give full-length mocks and review mistakes by topic.

Common traps

• Do not mix up GSSSB and GPSSB. Talati is a GPSSB post.
• Do not assume GPSC preliminary marks count in final merit; the reported rule says they do not.
• Do not copy an age limit from another post. Check the advertisement.
• Do not trust a site that fixes an exam date months ahead; use the board's own site.
• The EWS quota is 10% and sits outside the 50% ceiling, while the SC, ST and SEBC quota (49%) is within it.

Rapid-fire facts

Fact	Answer
Gujarat formed as a state	1 May 1960
State formed by splitting	Bombay State
Full form of GPSC	Gujarat Public Service Commission
GPSC is mentioned in which Article	315
Who appoints the GPSC chairman	The Governor (Article 316)
Article on functions of PSC	320
Article on removal of a PSC member	317
GPSC Class 1 and 2 stages	Preliminary, main, interview
GPSC preliminary papers (reported)	One paper
GPSC preliminary marks (reported)	200
GPSC preliminary duration (reported)	3 hours
GPSC preliminary negative marking	One-third mark
GPSC preliminary qualifying mark	33% (reported)
Do GPSC preliminary marks count in merit	No (reported)
GPSC main papers (reported)	7
Qualifying main papers (reported)	Gujarati and English, 300 marks each
Minimum in qualifying papers (reported)	25%
Essay and GS papers (reported)	5 papers of 250 marks
Merit marks in main (reported)	1,250
GPSC interview (reported)	150 marks
Final merit total (reported)	1,400
Optional subject in GPSC Class 1 and 2	None
Typical minimum age, Class 1 and 2	20 years
Typical maximum age, Class 1 and 2 (reported)	35 years
Attempt limit for GPSC Class 1 and 2 (reported)	No limit
Services in the 5/2026-27 advertisement	Gujarat Administrative Service, Civil Services, Municipal Chief Officer Service
Full form of GSSSB	Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (Gujarat Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal)
GSSSB office	Gandhinagar
GSSSB application portal	OJAS
GSSSB posts	Class 3 department posts
GSSSB CCE preliminary questions (reported)	100
GSSSB CCE preliminary duration (reported)	60 minutes
GSSSB CCE negative marking (reported)	0.25 mark
CCE preliminary reasoning marks (reported)	40
CCE preliminary quantitative aptitude marks (reported)	30
CCE preliminary English and Gujarati marks (reported)	15 each
CCE Group A main marks (reported)	350
CCE Group B main marks (reported)	200
Board that recruits Talati cum Mantri	Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board
Mode of GPSSB exams (reported)	CBRT, computer based
GPSSB negative marking (reported)	One-third mark
Board for the police exams	Gujarat Police Recruitment Board
Police cadres	PSI and Lokrakshak
Lokrakshak qualification (reported)	Class 12
PSI qualification (reported)	Graduate
PSI age (reported)	21 to 35
Lokrakshak age (reported)	18 to 33
Male height, non-ST (reported)	165 cm
Female height, non-ST (reported)	155 cm
Male chest (reported)	79 cm unexpanded, 84 cm expanded
Male run (reported)	5,000 m in 25 minutes
Female run (reported)	1,600 m in 9 minutes 30 seconds
Is the police run counted for merit	No, qualifying only (reported)
Constable written exam (reported)	200 questions, 200 marks, 3 hours
Police negative marking (reported)	0.25 mark
PSI papers (reported)	2: 200 MCQ plus 100 descriptive
PSI minimum in each part (reported)	40%
Stage order in police recruitment	Physical tests, written exam, medical, document verification
Latest reported police drive posts	13,591, unverified
TET conducted by	Gujarat State Examination Board (Board of Secondary Education)
TET 1 is for	Classes 1 to 5
TET 2 is for	Classes 6 to 8
TET questions (reported)	150, one mark each
TET negative marking (reported)	None
TET qualifying marks, general (reported)	60%
TET qualifying marks, OBC (reported)	55%
TET qualifying marks, SC, ST, PwD (reported)	45%
TET certificate validity (reported)	Lifetime
TAT pattern (reported)	200 questions, 200 marks, 3 hours
Gujarat High Court location	Sola, Ahmedabad
High Court recruits for	District judiciary, industrial and labour courts
High Court recruitment method	Centralised wait list with category and women quotas
SC reservation (reported)	7%
ST reservation (reported)	15%
SEBC reservation (reported)	27%
EWS reservation	10%
Total vertical reservation	59%
Women's reservation (reported)	33%, horizontal
Disability reservation, admissions (reported)	3%
Ex-servicemen, admissions (reported)	1%
EWS income ceiling, admissions (reported)	Rs 8 lakh a year
EWS amendment	Constitution (103rd Amendment)
Gujarat EWS quota started (reported)	January 2019
50% ceiling case	Indra Sawhney (1992)
Article for reservation in promotion/appointment	16(4)
Article for backward classes in education	15(4)
EWS articles	15(6) and 16(6)
Article on STs list	342
Article on commission for backward classes	340
Governing rules for civil services	Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967
Language needed in state services (reported)	Gujarati or Hindi or both
Class 3 fixed pay period (reported)	5 years
Level 7 pay scale (reported)	Rs 39,900 to Rs 1,26,600
Women's age relaxation, general (reported)	5 years, up to 45
Women of SEBC and ST (reported)	10 years, up to 45
Stenographer ad base age (reported)	40

Frequently asked questions

Who conducts the Class 1 and 2 exam in Gujarat?

The Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) conducts it. The services in the latest advertisement shown on the commission's site are the Gujarat Administrative Service, Gujarat Civil Services (Class 1 and 2) and the Gujarat Municipal Chief Officer Service.

What is the GPSC exam pattern?

Reported: a one-paper General Studies preliminary of 200 marks as a screening test, a seven-paper main exam in which Gujarati and English are qualifying, and a 150-mark interview. The commission publishes the pattern with each advertisement, so verify it.

Do the preliminary marks count in the final GPSC merit?

No, the reported rule is that the preliminary only shortlists candidates. Final merit is main plus interview.

Is there an optional subject in the GPSC main?

No, the reported pattern has no optional subject.

Is Gujarati compulsory for GPSC?

The main exam has a qualifying Gujarati paper (reported as Gujarati only in the 2025 advertisement) and the state rules ask for Gujarati or Hindi. Plan for Gujarati.

What is the age limit for GPSC Class 1 and 2?

Reported as 20 to 35 years for unreserved candidates, with relaxations. See the age section above and the advertisement.

What is the difference between GSSSB and GPSSB?

GSSSB recruits Class 3 posts in state departments. GPSSB recruits panchayat-service posts such as Talati cum Mantri and Junior Clerk. Both are in Gandhinagar.

Who recruits Talati in Gujarat?

The Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board, not GSSSB.

What is the GSSSB CCE pattern?

Reported for the 2024 exam: a 100-question preliminary of 60 minutes with 0.25 negative marking, then a main exam for the group you applied to.

Which board conducts Gujarat Police recruitment?

The Gujarat Police Recruitment Board.

What is the difference between PSI and Lokrakshak?

PSI is the Sub-Inspector cadre and needs a degree. Lokrakshak is the constable cadre (unarmed, armed, SRPF) and needs Class 12, as reported.

Is the police run a part of merit?

The run is qualifying and carries no merit marks, as reported. Merit is by the written exam.

How many TET papers are there in Gujarat?

Two. TET 1 for classes 1 to 5 and TET 2 for classes 6 to 8, reported at 150 marks each.

What are the TET qualifying marks?

Reported: 60% general, 55% OBC (SEBC) and 45% for SC, ST and PwD. Verify on the Board's site.

Is the TET certificate valid for life?

Reported: yes, after a change from seven years. Check the latest Board notice.

Does the High Court recruit clerks?

It recruits for the district judiciary, for example Stenographer, Process Server, Driver and Librarian posts, from the postings on its site, and Assistants and Peons in an earlier cycle. For the present pattern check the Court's recruitment page.

What is the reservation in Gujarat?

Reported: SC 7%, ST 15%, SEBC 27%, EWS 10%, and 33% horizontal reservation for women. The total of the first four is 59%.

Is domicile compulsory for Gujarat government jobs?

Not for every post as far as we could confirm, but reservation benefits are reported to apply only to Gujarat domiciles, and some posts (such as TET) list domicile. Read the eligibility clause.

Where can I find current Gujarat vacancies?

Use Gujarat government jobs, and the official sites of GPSC, GSSSB, GPSSB, the Police Recruitment Board and the High Court.

Where can I practise Gujarat GK?

Take topic and full-length tests in our online test series.

Sources and verification

Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, district count, local-body results) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data, with the 2026-27 budget from PRS Legislative Research; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census.

Facts verified on 4 October 2026. The official pages were opened for names, structure and notice headings, while most exam figures (marks, durations, ages, quotas) come from exam-prep and news sites and are marked "reported" in the text. The web search budget ran out before every point could be double-checked.

• Gujarat Public Service Commission official site (gpsc.gujarat.gov.in), home page and syllabus page, as on 4 October 2026.
• Gujarat Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal (GSSSB) official site (gsssb.gujarat.gov.in), home page.
• Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board official site (gpssb.gujarat.gov.in), home page.
• Gujarat Police Recruitment Board official site (gprb.gujarat.gov.in), home page.
• High Court of Gujarat official site (gujarathighcourt.nic.in) home page, and two posting notices dated 3 September 2026 (Driver) and an earlier Process Server notice.
• Oliveboard, GPSC syllabus and exam pattern page; Maru Gujarat, GPSC Class 1 and 2 2025 recruitment page and GPSSB exam date page; Taiyar Ho, GPSC Class 1 and 2 page; Careers360, GES Class 1 and 2 page.
• Adda247, GSSSB CCE recruitment page; Career Power, Gujarat Police recruitment and SI syllabus pages; JRF Adda, Gujarat TET 2026 page; Physics Wallah, GUJCET reservation page; SCC Online, report on a Gujarat High Court judgment on age relaxation.
• Search-result summaries only (full pages not opened): Gujarat TET and TAT pattern, GSSSB 5,370-vacancy figure, GSSSB fixed-pay advertisements, Gujarat Civil Services rules on language, Gujarat reservation news (2019 EWS quota, 33% women), the Gujarat age-relaxation circular, and the Gujarat High Court Assistant and Peon recruitment.