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Ahmedabad ( ), also spelt Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per the 2011 population census) makes it the fifth-most populous city in India, and the encompassing urban agglomeration population estimated at 8,854,444 (as of 2024) is the seventh-most populous in India. Ahmedabad is located near the banks of the Sabarmati River, from the capital of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, also known as its twin city.
Ahmedabad has emerged as an important economic and industrial hub in India. It is the second-largest producer of cotton in India, due to which it was known as the 'Manchester of India' along with Kanpur. Ahmedabad Stock Exchange (before it was shut down in 2018) was the country's second-oldest. Cricket is a popular sport in Ahmedabad; the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera can accommodate 132,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium in the world. The planned Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave will be one of the biggest sports centres (Sports City) in India once complete.
The effects of the liberalisation of the Indian economy have energised the city's economy towards tertiary sector activities such as commerce, communication and construction. Ahmedabad's increasing population has increased demand in the construction and housing industries, resulting in the development of skyscrapers.
In 2010, Ahmedabad was ranked third in Forbess list of fastest growing cities of the decade. In 2012, The Times of India chose Ahmedabad as India's best city to live in. The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad metro was estimated at $136.1 billion in 2023. In 2020, Ahmedabad was ranked as the third-best city in India to live in by the Ease of Living Index. In July 2022, Time magazine included Ahmedabad in its list of the world's 50 greatest places of 2022.
Ahmedabad has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under the Government of Indias flagship Smart Cities Mission. In July 2017, the historic city of Ahmedabad, or Old Ahmedabad, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
According to Merutunga, Karna, the Chaulukya (Solanki) ruler of Anhilvada (modern Patan), successfully launched a military campaign against Ashaval and founded a city nearby called Karnavati. The location of Karnavati is not definitively known. References from the 14th and 15th centuries mention Ashaval but do not mention Karnavati.
Ahmad Shah I of the Gujarat Sultanate transferred its capital from Anhilvada to Ashaval in 1411 CE; as was customary, the city was subsequently renamed Ahmedabad after the Sultan.
By 1960, Ahmedabad had become a metropolis with a population of slightly under half a million people, with classical and colonial European-style buildings lining the city's thoroughfares. It was chosen as the capital of Gujarat after the partition of the Bombay State on 1 May 1960. During this period, a large number of educational and research institutions were founded in the city, making it a centre for higher education, science, and technology. Ahmedabad's economic base became more diverse with the establishment of heavy and chemical industry during the same period. Many countries sought to emulate India's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied Ahmedabad's second "Five-Year Plan". Post independence Ahmedabad has seen development in manufacturing and infrastructure. In the late 1970s, the capital shifted to the newly built city of Gandhinagar. This marked the start of a long period of decline in Ahmedabad, marked by a lack of development. The 1974 Nav Nirman agitation, a protest against a 20% hike in the hostel food fees at the L.D. College of Engineering in Ahmedabad, snowballed into a movement to remove Chimanbhai Patel, then chief minister of Gujarat. In the 1980s, a reservation policy was introduced in the country, which led to anti-reservation protests in 1981 and 1985. The protests witnessed violent clashes between people belonging to various castes. The city was considerably impacted by the 2001 Gujarat earthquake; up to 50 multi-storey buildings collapsed, killing 752 people and causing much damage. The following year, three days of violence between Hindus and Muslims in the western Indian state of Gujarat, known as the 2002 Gujarat riots, spread to Ahmedabad; in eastern Chamanpura, 69 people were killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre on 28 February 2002. Refugee camps were set up around the city, housing 50,000 Muslims, as well as some small Hindu camps.
The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings, a series of seventeen bomb blasts, killed and injured several people. The terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In November 2018, BJP government figures such as Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and deputy chief minister Nitin Patel made announcements talking about changing the city name from Ahmedabad to Karnavati. Opposition politicians criticised this. For example, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said: "Name changing of cities is an attempt by the government to cover up failure in governance." Hetvi Sancheti filed a petition with the high court on the basis of the chief minister's 7 November 2018 statement on the grounds that the name of city Ahmedabad is an "intangible cultural heritage" and that India was a signatory to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003. The petition was dropped on 5 April 2019 after the filer had made representations to the government.
Ahmedabad is one of the few cities in India that has hosted the premiers of major economies such as the US, China, and Canada. On 24 February 2020, President of the United States Donald Trump became the first US president to visit the city. The event was named Namaste Trump. Earlier, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau visited the city.
The estimated population of Ahmedabad city is 7,692,000, while that of the urban agglomeration area is 8,772,000 as of 2023. The 2021 census of India has been delayed to 2024-25, and the deadline to freeze administrative boundaries has been extended to 1 January 2024.
Ahmedabad has made efforts to reduce poverty and improve the living conditions of poor residents. The urban poverty rate has declined from 28% in 1993–1994 to 10% in 2011–2012. This is partly due to the strengthening of the AMC and its partnership with several civil society organisations (CSOs) representing poor residents. Through projects and programs, the AMC has provided utilities and basic services to slums. However, some challenges remain, and there are still many residents who lack access to sanitation, clean running water, and electricity. Riots, often rooted in religious tensions, threaten the stability of neighbourhoods and have caused spatial segregation across religious and caste lines. There remains to be seen a concerted effort to balance pro-poor, inclusive development with national initiatives that aim to create 'global cities' that are the focus of capital investment and technological innovation.
This project has generally been regarded as a success. Having access to basic services increased the residents' working hours, since most work out of their homes. It also reduced the incidence of illness, particularly water-borne illness, and increased children's rates of school attendance.SEWA Academy (2002) Parivartan and its impact: A Partnership Programme of Infrastructure Development in Slums of Ahmedabad City. SEWA Monograph. Ahmedabad: Self-Employed Women's Association. The SNP received the 2006 UNHABITAT Dubai International Award for Best Practice to Improve the Living Environment. However, concerns remain about the community's responsibility and capacity for the maintenance of the new infrastructure. Additionally, trust was weakened when the AMC demolished two of the slums that were upgraded as part of SNP to create recreational parks.
| Hinduism | 102,619 | 426,498 | 2,853,494 | |||
| Islam | 30,946 | 116,301 | 476,620 | |||
| Jainism | 12,747 | 30,935 | 141,607 | |||
| Christianity | 1,031 | 8,467 | 32,917 | |||
| Zoroastrianism | 723 | !— !— !— !— | ||||
| Animism | 156 | !— !— !— !— | ||||
| Judaism | 153 | !— !— !— !— | ||||
| Sikhism !— !— | 825 | 8,801 | ||||
| Buddhism !— !— !— !— | 2,064 | |||||
| Other | 37 | 8,241 | 2,678 | |||
At the time of the 2011 census, 68.44% of the population spoke Gujarati, 19.49% Hindi, 3.47% Urdu, 2.24% Sindhi language, 2.02% Marathi language 1.90% Marwari language and 0.67% Telugu language as their first language.
According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone 3, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing vulnerability to earthquakes).
Ahmedabad is divided by the Sabarmati into two physically distinct eastern and western regions. The eastern bank of the river houses the old city, which includes the central town of Bhadra Fort. This part of Ahmedabad is characterised by packed , the pol system of closely clustered buildings, and numerous places of worship. A pol (pronounced as pole) is a housing cluster which comprises many families of a particular group, linked by caste, profession, or religion. This is a list of pols in the Old Ahmedabad of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. Heritage of these pols has helped Ahmedabad gain a place in UNESCO's Tentative Lists, in selection criteria II, III and IV. The secretary-general of EuroIndia Centre quoted that if 12,000 Havelis of Ahmedabad are restored they could be very helpful in promoting heritage tourism and its allied businesses. The Art Reverie in Moto Sutharvado is Res Artis center. The first pol in Ahmedabad was named Mahurat Pol. The old city also houses the main railway station, the main post office, and some buildings of the Muzaffarid and British eras. The colonial period saw the expansion of the city to the western side of the Sabarmati river, facilitated by the construction of Ellis Bridge in 1875 (and later the modern Nehru Bridge). The western part of the city houses educational institutions, modern buildings, residential areas, shopping malls, multiplexes and new business districts centred around roads such as Ashram Road, C. G. Road, and Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway.
The Sabarmati Riverfront is a waterfront area being developed along the banks of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, India. Proposed in the 1960s, its construction began in 2005, and it opened in 2012.
Following a heat wave in May 2010, which reached and claimed hundreds of lives, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), in partnership with an international coalition of health and academic groups and with support from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, developed the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan. Aimed at increasing awareness, sharing information and coordinating responses to reduce the health effects of heat on vulnerable populations, the action plan is the first comprehensive plan in Asia to address the threat of adverse heat on health. Feature: Ahmedabad, India launches heat wave preparation and warning system Climate & Development Knowledge Network. Retrieved 31 July 2013. It also focuses on community participation, building public awareness of the risks of extreme heat, training medical and community workers to respond to and help prevent heat-related illnesses, and coordinating an interagency emergency response effort when heat waves hit. Addressing heat-related risks in urban India: Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan , Dr Tejas Shah, Dr Dileep Mavalankar, Dr Gulrez Shah Azhar, Anjali Jaiswal and Meredith Connolly, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Indian Institute of Public Health-Gandhinagar and the Natural Resources Defense Council, 2014
Ahmedabad has been ranked 7th best “National Clean Air City” (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'
After independence, modern buildings appeared in Ahmedabad. Architects given commissions in the city included Louis Kahn, who designed the IIM-A; Le Corbusier, who designed the Villa Shodhan and Villa Sarabhai, the Sanskar Kendra and the Mill Owners' Association Building, and Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed the administrative building of Calico Mills and the Calico Dome. B. V. Doshi came to the city from Paris to supervise Le Corbusier's works and later set up the CEPT University (now CEPT). His local works include Sangath, Amdavad ni Gufa, Tagore Memorial Hall and the School of Architecture. Charles Correa, who became a partner of Doshi's, designed the Sabarmati Ashram and Achyut Kanvinde, and the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association complex. Christopher Charles Benninger's first work, the Alliance Française, is located in the Ellis Bridge area. Anant Raje designed major additions to Louis Kahn's IIM-A campus, namely the Ravi Mathai Auditorium and KLMD.
Some of the most visited gardens in the city include Law Garden, Victoria Garden, and Bal Vatika. Law Garden was named after the College of Law located nearby. Victoria Garden is located at the southern edge of the Bhadra Fort and contains a statue of Queen Victoria. Bal Vatika is a children's park situated on the grounds of Kankaria Lake and houses an amusement park. Other gardens in the city include Parimal Garden, Usmanpura Garden, Prahlad Nagar Garden, and Lal Darwaja Garden. Ahmedabad's Kamla Nehru Zoological Park houses a number of endangered species including flamingoes, , Dhole, and chinkara.
The Kankaria Lake, built in 1451 CE, is one of the biggest lakes in Ahmedabad. In earlier days, it was known by the name Qutub Hoj or Hauj-e-Kutub. Lal Bahadur Shastri lake in Bapunagar is almost 136,000 square metres. In 2010, another 34 lakes were planned in and around Ahmedabad of which five lakes will be developed by AMC; the other 29 will be developed by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). Vastrapur lake is a small artificial lake located in the western part of Ahmedabad. Beautified by local authorities in 2002, it is surrounded by greenery and paved walkways and has become a popular leisure spot for the citizens. Chandola Lake covers an area of 1200 hectares. It is home to cormorants, , and .It's a Jungle Out There sic. The Indian Express, 18 August 2013 During the evening, many people visit this place and take a stroll. There is a recently developed lake in Naroda, and there is also the world's largest collection of antique cars in Kathwada at IB farm (Dastan Farm). AMC has also developed the Sabarmati Riverfront.
Looking at the health of traffic police staff deployed near the Pirana dump site, the Ahmedabad City Police is going to install outdoor air purifiers at traffic points so that the deployed staff can breathe fresh air.
File:Hathee-Singh-Jain-Temple-Ahmedabad.jpg|Hutheesing Jain Derasar main entrance
File:Pole 44.jpg|Pol area of Old Ahmedabad
File:Sabarmati riverside.jpg|Sabarmati Riverfront
File:Kankaria lake.JPG|Kankaria Lake, Ahmedabad
The city is divided into seven zones, constituting 48 wards. The city's urban and suburban areas are administered by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).
Many restaurants serve Indian and international cuisines. Most of the food outlets serve only vegetarian food, as there exists a strong tradition of vegetarianism that has been maintained by the city's Jain and Hindu communities for centuries. The first all-vegetarian Pizza Hut in the world opened in Ahmedabad. KFC has a separate staff uniform for serving vegetarian items and prepares vegetarian food in a separate kitchen, as does McDonald's. Ahmedabad has a number of restaurants serving typical Mughlai cuisine non-vegetarian food in older areas like Bhatiyar Gali, Kalupur and Jamalpur. Manek Chowk is an open square near the centre of the city that functions as a vegetable market in the morning and a jewellery market in the afternoon. However, it is best known for becoming a vast congregation of food stalls in the evening, which sell local street food. It is named after the Hindu saint Baba Maneknath.
The city has diverse food options for the vegan community as well. PETA India has named Ahmedabad as India's most vegan-friendly city of 2024.
Three main literary institutions were established in Ahmedabad for the promotion of Gujarati literature: Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarat Sahitya Sabha. Saptak School of Music festival is held in the first week of the new year. This event was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar.
The Sanskar Kendra, one of the several buildings in Ahmedabad designed by Le Corbusier, is a museum displaying the city's history, art, culture, and architecture. The Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial have permanent displays of photographs, documents, and other articles relating to the Gujarat-born Indian independence movement leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. The Calico Museum of Textiles has a large collection of Indian and international fabrics, garments, and textiles. The Hazrat Pir Mohammad Shah Library has a collection of rare original manuscripts in Arabic, Persian language, Urdu, Sindhi language, and Turkish language. The Vechaar Utensils Museum has stainless steel, glass, brass, copper, bronze, zinc, and German silver tools on display. The Conflictorium is an interactive installation space that explores conflict in society through art.
The Shreyas Foundation has four museums on its campus. The Shreyas Folk Museum (Lokayatan Museum) has art forms and artefacts from various Gujarati communities. The Kalpana Mangaldas Children's Museum has a collection of toys, puppets, dance and drama costumes, coins, and a repository of recorded music from traditional shows from all over the world. Kahani houses photographs of fairs and festivals of Gujarat. Sangeeta Vadyakhand is a gallery of musical instruments from India and other countries.
The L. D. Institute of Indology houses 76,000 hand-written Jain manuscripts with 500 illustrated versions and 45,000 printed books, making it the largest collection of Jain scripts, Indian sculptures, terracottas, miniature paintings, cloth paintings, painted scrolls, bronzes, woodwork, Indian coins, textiles and decorative art, paintings of Rabindranath Tagore, and art of Nepal and Tibet. The N. C. Mehta Gallery of Miniature Paintings has a collection of ornate miniature paintings and manuscripts from all over India.
In 1949, the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts was established by the scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and his wife, Bharat Natyam dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai. Its influence has led Ahmedabad to become a centre of Indian classical dance.
Private universities located in the city include Ahmedabad University, CEPT University (formerly Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology), Indus University, Nirma University, GLS University, and Silver Oak University. Two Institutes of National Importance are located in the city—Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and National Institute of Design.
Other institutions located in the city include the Physical Research Laboratory, which was established in 1947 by the physicist and astronomer Vikram Sarabhai. It is an autonomous research institute under the Department of Space with a focus on research in astronomy, experimental and theoretical physics, and . The Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA), registered in 1947, is an autonomous, non-profit association engaged in operational and applied research in the textile industry.
If you are looking for Universities in Ahmedabad where you get to go to Internship and also learn theoretical subjects, then there is Skill College who has partnered with Silver Oak University in Ahmedabad. They are Gujarat biggest Vocational degree provider with multiple locations all over Gujarat. Their structures follow Germanies Duel Vet System, 2 hours classroom study and 8 hours of Internship daily. This enable 12th pass or diploma pass students to get industry exposure from early age which gives them an edge in the Job market.
The state-owned All India Radio Ahmedabad is broadcast both on medium wave and FM bands (96.7 MHz) in the city. It competes with five private local FM stations: Radio City (91.1 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), My FM (94.3 MHz), Radio One (95.0 MHz), Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz) and Mirchi Love (104 MHz). Gyan Vani (104.5 MHz) is an educational FM radio station run under the media co-operation model. In March 2012, Gujarat University started a campus radio service on 90.8 MHz, which was the first of its kind in the state and the fifth in India.
The state-owned television broadcaster Doordarshan provides free terrestrial channels, while three multi system operators—InCablenet, Siti Cable, and GTPL—provide a mix of Gujarati, Hindi, English, and other regional channels via cable television. Telephone services are provided by landline and mobile operators such as Jio, BSNL Mobile, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.
The Ahmedabad railway division, an operating division under the Western Railway zone of Indian Railways, is headquartered in the city. Ahmedabad Junction railway station, locally known as Kalupur railway station, is Ahmedabad's primary and Gujarat's busiest railway hub. Other major railway stations that service the city include , , , and .
Public transit includes the Ahmedabad Metro, a Rapid transit inaugurated in March 2019 with 40 km of track on two lines (East-West and North-South) and a daily ridership of 90,000. Phase 2 of the Ahmedabad Metro—connecting Motera Stadium northwards to Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar—began construction in February 2021 and is expected to be complete by 2026. Other public transit options include the Ahmedabad BRTS, also known as Janmarg (people's way), a bus rapid transit system inaugurated in October 2009 with a total fleet of 325 buses over 19 routes and a daily ridership of 190,000. Bus transportation is also provided by Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) with 700 buses over 149 routes. Both the Ahmedabad BRTS and the AMTS are overseen by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Ahmedabad also has self drive car rental service provided by private companies like Just Drive Self Drive Cars.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation introduced "AmdaBike", a public bicycle sharing system, in December 2019 to improve last mile connectivity. MYBYK is the main service provider for AmdaBike with 300 bicycle stations—including at Ahmedabad BRTS stations—and 4,000 bicycles.
In 2001, the Central Pollution Control Board ranked Ahmedabad as the most polluted city in India out of 85 surveyed. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board provided autorickshaw drivers a 10,000 incentive to convert all 37,733 vehicles to cleaner-burning compressed natural gas to reduce pollution. Consequently, by 2008, Ahmedabad was ranked as the 50th most polluted city in India.
Other popular sports include field hockey, badminton, tennis, squash, and golf. Ahmedabad has nine . The Mithakhali Multi Sports Complex is being developed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to promote various indoor sports. The city has also hosted national-level games for roller skating and table tennis. Kart racing is gaining popularity in the city following the introduction of a 380 metre track based on Formula One design concepts.
The Sabarmati Marathon has been held annually since 2011; its categories include full and half marathons, a "dream run", a run for the visually disabled, and a wheelchair run. In 2007, Ahmedabad hosted the 51st national-level Shooting sports games. The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup was held at The Arena by Transtadia (a renovated Kankaria football ground). Geet Sethi, a five-time winner of the World Professional Billiards Championship and a recipient of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, was raised in the city.
The Adani Ahmedabad Marathon has been organised annually by the Adani Group since 2017. The inaugural event attracted 8,000 participants and the 2020 event was held virtually in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines. In addition, the city will host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
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