Ahmedabad is the industrial center in western India. after

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad metro was estimated at $80 billion in 2019. Ahmedabad is the largest contributor to the GDP of Gujarat state. With an estimated $68 billion out of $227 billion, textile and clothing in Ahmedabad is one of the oldest industries. It is the largest supplier of

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been pr ...

and one of the largest exporters of

gems Gems, or gemstones, are polished, cut stones or minerals. Gems or GEMS may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media *Gems (Aerosmith album), ''Gems'' (Aerosmith album), 1988 *Gems (Patti LaBelle album), ''Gems'' (Patti LaBelle album), 1994 *G ...

and

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

in the country. Ahmedabad is one of the largest concentration of pharmaceutical and biotech companies in India. Ahmedabad hosts the headquarters of major public-sector banks Ahmedabad Dist Co Op Bank, Ahd Mercantile Co-Op Bank Ltd, Ahmedabad Mercantil Co Op Bank,

Dena Bank Dena Bank was a government-owned bank that in 2019 merged with Bank of Baroda. It was headquartered in Mumbai and had 1,874 branches. The bank was founded in 1938 as a privately owned Bank. In 1969 the Government of India nationalized ''Dena Ban ...

, The Cosmos Co - Op Bank, Manager Gujarat Ambuja Co-Operative, The Gujarat State Co-operative Bank Ltd.Gujarat State Coop Bank, The Kalupur Bank, Ahmedabad Capital Bank, Kutch Bank co op,

Bank of Rajasthan The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd ( hi, बैन्क ओफ राजस्थान) () was a private sector bank of India which merged with ICICI Bank in 2010. History It was set up at Udaipur in 1943 with an initial capital of Rs. 10.00 lacs. An ...

, Bank of Marwad. The

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

has been the main industry of Ahmedabad. On 30 May 1861,

Ranchhodlal Chhotalal Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, Rai Bahadur
"Memoir of Rao Bahadur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, C.I. ...

founded the first Indian

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

called the Ahmedabad Spinning and Weaving Company Limited, to be more popularly known as the Shahpur Mill later on. This was followed with a series of textile mills like the Calico Mills in 1880 by Maganbhai, and other mills founded by industrialists like

Ambalal Sarabhai Ambalal Sarabhai (23 February 1890 – 13 July 1967) was an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, institution builder, and supporter of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the chairman and promoter of Calico Mills and the founder of The Sarabhai Group of Com ...

and

Kasturbhai Lalbhai Kasturbhai Lalbhai (19 December 1894 – 20 January 1980) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He co-founded the Arvind Mills along with his brothers and several other institutes. He was a cofounder of the Ahmadabad Education Society ...

which gave Ahmedabad the title of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

of India. The textile industry saw a decline in the early part of the 20th century, but was revived again due to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and also by the

Swadeshi movement The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

led by Mahatma Gandhi during the independence movement.

Arvind Mills Arvind Limited (formerly Arvind Mills) is a textile manufacturer and the flagship company of the Lalbhai Group. Its headquarters are in Naroda, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, and it has units at Santej (near Kalol). The company manufactures cot ...

is one of the largest textile mills in the country. An Arvind mill is one of the three largest producers of denim in the world. Dirubhai Ambani started his the first textile mill at

Naroda Naroda is a fast-growing area in Ahmedabad, northeast of central Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. History With the establishment of the Naroda Industrial Area in the 1980s, the town flourished; it was incorporated into Ahmedabad in ...

in February, 1966. Ahmedabad GDP was $65 billion in 2008. Ahmedabad also has a thriving chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry. Two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies of India -

Zydus Cadila Zydus Lifesciences Limited, formerly known as Cadila Healthcare Limited, is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Ahmedabad, which is primarily engaged in the manufacture of generic drugs. It ranked 100th in the Fort ...

and

Torrent Pharmaceuticals Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, owned by Torrent Group and headquartered in Ahmedabad. It was promoted by U. N. Mehta, initially as Trinity Laboratories Ltd, and was later renamed Torrent Pharma ...

are located in the city. The city also serves as the corporate headquarters of the

Adani Group Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. It was founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, with the flagship company Adani Enterprises. The Group's diverse businesses include po ...

which is a leading trading and export company of India. The

Nirma Nirma is a group of companies based in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, that manufactures products ranging from detergents, soaps, cement, cosmetics, salt, soda ash, LAB and injectables. Karsanbhai Patel, an entrepreneur and philanthrop ...

group of industries running many detergent and chemical industrial units in Gujarat, also has its corporate headquarters in the city. The last few years has seen the rise of the

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

industry in Ahmedabad. A Nasscom survey in 2002 on the ‘Super Nine Indian Destinations’ for IT-enabled services (ITES) had ranked Ahmedabad fifth among the top nine most competitive cities in the country.

Companies

References

{{Ahmedabad topics