Gujarat: The Global Business Hub
Gujarat, a word derived from Gurjar tribes living on the bank of Sabarmati. Today the water of Sabarmati spreads in different areas of the world in the form of entrepreneurs, businessmen, political leaders and even space scientist too.
Two precious things it has: its people and its culture. And Gujarat is enriched with both of these things. The ancient history of India clearly indicates the greatest leaders of all time that this great western – most state has produced.
The state has been successful in maintaining double digit GDP with its rich culture. It can also contribute towards accelerating the economy of the entire nation, as it has done in the last decade. Growth has always been an aspiration for Gujaratis. Their catalyst nature is already a patent formula, which has brought in three very important elements.
Excelling in Education
States like Gujarat have participated actively in the race to make the task more convenient and faster. Gujarat has set its goals on educating each and every citizen of the state and also to strengthen the education status of the state. Programmes like the District Primary Education Programme have made primary education compulsory and free for all. Schools in the state are affiliated with the Gujarat state secondary and higher secondary board. However, some schools are also affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE) boards.
Gujarat houses some of the best higher education institutions in the country namely the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Nirma Institue of Technology and Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology which are also known worldwide for their quality education and research. There are several outstanding research institutes viz. Institute for Plasma Research, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL).The state has a total number of 15 universities including deemed universities and institutes of national importance.
Real Estate – A Flourishing Business
As part of the global real estate property market boom, Gujarat too is gearing up for welcoming the change. By introducing world-class real estate infrastructure, many real estate companies have made it an ideal place for living and organizing profitable businesses. Currently, we witness a phenomenal rise in the demand for both residential and commercial complexes all over the region.
It seems the Gujarat investors are returning to real estate business after an interval. Many of them are now eyeing fresh projects to put their money in. The growing demand of real estate brokers tells it all. In the present day, as the infrastructural development is at its peak, the real estate sector in the state witness a steady growth. Property developers in state offer high-end flats and bungalows to locals as well as non-resident Indians. It is a known fact that the NRIs are one of the major investors in Gujarat residential property and this makes the real estate developers focus on luring them in foreign investment.
Wondrous SEZ
Gujarat was the first state to enact the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act, 2004. The unique and innovative form of SEZs would surely prove as the growth engine that can boost manufacturing facilities, enhance exports and generate incredible employment opportunities along the way. The Government of India introduced SEZ scheme to provide a hassle free operational regime and for encompassing state of the art infrastructure that will enhance the state’s urban and industrial growth.
SEZs cover industrial and labour aspects, including flexible labour laws and exit options. The concept of Fixed Term Employment introduced by the SEZ Act has helped in accounting for the least manpower days lost due to labour conflict, among comparable industrial states.
Propitious Ports
A prosperous economic gateway is created for Gujarat with 1,600-km long coastline dotted with 41 ports. It gives it an advantage of having access to all major port based countries such as UK, China, Japan, Korea and the Gulf countries; it is also a gateway to the rich land-locked northern and central hinterland.
Kandla was chosen to be a major port on the west coast by the Government after port of Karachi went to Pakistan after Independence. Total traffic at the Kandala port has always seen an upward move. It grew at around 14% CAGR during 2004-2005, to reach all most 80 MMT in 2009-2010 (this is higher than the 8% average CAGR for all Major ports in India.
Gujarat’s GIFT
India’s financial services sector has transformed over the last decade with a market capitalization of over USD 200 bn by contributing 5% to GDP and employing over 3 million people. Given India’s continued economic growth the financial sector will grow to double or triple the existing figures and to meet the emerging demand Gujarat has formulated a mega project named Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).
Being world financial hubs, London and NewYork have played vital role in contributing immensely to both GDP and employment in their nations by tapping the needs of Financial Services. On the same line, from eastern part of world Singapore and Honk Kong have achieved similar levels of economic activity in a very short span of time.
Steel Strength
It is a great achievement for Gujarat that even without a single Iron ore Mine in the state, Gujarat has world’s largest gas based sponge iron plant which is run by Essar at Hazira. The top notch infrastructure in Gujarat makes it very much possible for the manufacturers and suppliers to ship in raw materials and ship out finished products
Ahmedabad, Anand, Rajkot, Vadodara, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Panchmahal and Kuchchh have emerged as the important sites of engineering industries.
Petro-chemical Capital
Gujarat is well known as the Petro refining capital of India. Gujarat deserved the tag as it contributes more than 62% of India’s petrochemicals and 51% of the nation’s chemical sectors’ total ouput. Gujaratis are proud leader in terms of investment into chemical and petrochemical sector.
30% of fixed capital investment goes into the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products, which also contributes to around one fifth of the total employment in the state.
IT Boom
After leading the country in business and trade, Gujarat is all set to be a leader in altogether a new field which is Information Technology. Ahmedabad, the major city of Gujarat is well ahead of cities like, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore in terms of lower cost of real estate, lower cost human resources, and uninterrupted power supply and investment friendly state IT policy initiatives.
In fact, seeing Gujarat’s prolific nature, Nasscom says that Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat have clearly emerged at the top of the cities that will provide the next wave of growth in information technology and IT enabled services.
Empowered by Power
Gujarat is the second highest per capital consumer of electricity in India. And to everybody’s surprise, the Power tariffs here have not increased in last seven years. The Jyotigram Yojana which was launched in 2003 and implemented by 2006, ensures 24- hour three phase quality power supply to every village in the state. It is for the first time that such a scheme has been implemented on such a scale in India.
It is predicted that up to 30% energy can be saved if planned corrective measures are taken and the financing of the required investment is proposed which will be met by these resultant saving. Gujarat is very much confident and hopeful that it would double its power generating capacity in next 5 years and develop a power surplus.
Textile Tycoon
Gujaratis have empowered the textile market in the world. The Ashima Group and Alok industries cater to companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Banana republic, GAP, Wal- Mart and Macy’s. Raymond fabrics are worn in 58 countries.
Gujarat is the largest producer (35%) and exporter (60%) of cotton in India, the third largest producer of denim in the world and the largest in India (65-70%). Textile contributes 6% of the total industrial production in Gujarati’s organized sector.
Powerful Pharmacy
Gujarat stands tall in India with more than 5,400 manufacturing licenses in pharmaceutical industry. It manufactures and exports various dosage forms including tablets, capsules, dry syrup, external preparation, cytotoxic drugs and vaccines.
The landscape of the state’s biotech industry consists of more than 500 biotechnology companies and 600 support organization. The bio technology tallies the turnover of around USD 150-175 MILLION (Rs. 700 crore) annually.
Excellent e-Governance
The state government has prioritized the development of technology. Awarded for the best e- governance initiatives, the state government has allocated 23% of its budget to IT- related expenditure.
Technology and system is best utilized to facilitate the citizens of Ahmedabad. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is the first civic body in India to facilitate better performance of the delivery of municipal services like birth and death registration, building plans, primary health and education through e- governance.
Glittering Gujarat
Gujarat has been the leading exporter of India’s total gems & jewellery, with market share of more than 70%. This More than 70% of India’s total gems and jewellery export came out of Gujarati. This astounding figure shows the dominance of Gujaratis in Jewellery business. The world recognizes the excellence of Gujaratis.
Around 80% of India’s cutting and polishing of diamonds is done in the state, and around 90% of this is done in just one city: Surat. There are more than 6000 processing hubs in the world.
Awesome Amul
Amul, famously known as Taste of India, symbolizes nothing else but co operative movement that empowered millions of dairy farmers. Established in 1973, The Gujarati Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation ltd (GCMMF) is India’s largest food product marketing organization. In its 12 district unions, over 11,000 village dairy cooperative societies are included.
Thanks to AMUL, the farmers are no longer poor and dependent. It has played a pivotal role in changing farmers’ life for good. AMUL, which means priceless in Sanskrit truly lives up to its brand name.
Balanced Resources
Gujarat has always been keen on sustainable development of water resources. It has been working on it by way of inter basin water transfer, canal linking and economic usage resources. These activities have fetched the Sanitation Management Organization a United Nations Public Service Award in 2009 which gave the state Global recognition.
Characterised by less rainfall faster run off into the sea, few perennial rivers and groundwater exploitation, the state has shown tremendous commitment for balancing a severe disparity in water availability in different regions of Gujarat.
Going Green
Gujarat has also been a prominent leader in Green Revolution. It has achieved the agricultural growth of 9.6%. As of 2009, three times higher than the agricultural growth rate of India. The production of total food grains during the year 2008-09 is estimated at 63.45 lakh tonnes against the all India production of 2,339 lakh tonnes in 2008-09.
Gujarat has the highest number of productivity levels in custard, castor, guava, potato, onion, cumin, fennel and cotton, the second highest productivity in groundnut and bajra and the third highest in gram, guar, banana and isabgul in the country.
Rattling Rivers
Geographically Gujarat is exceptionally benefited because most of its major cities are located on the banks of the rivers. The Tapi flows through Surat, Viswamitri through Vadodra, and the mighty Narmada through Ahmedabad.
This natural advantage is being exploited by the administration to rejuvenate these Great cities. It is very obvious that development of river front could contribute immensely towards the improvisation of quality of life and environment. The inspiration for the same is taken from the several cities in the West.
