GIFT City is set to grow by more than 15 per cent, with plans to add 161 acres to its existing 1,065-acre footprint, taking the total area to over 1,220 acres as India’s flagship financial hub enters its next phase of expansion.
The increase in size will come from a mix of riverfront land reclamation and allocation of contiguous government land, marking a renewed push to scale up the city after an earlier attempt to expand its notified area was rolled back by authorities.
“We will be getting some more land through reclamation as part of the Sabarmati riverfront development. This is about 31 hectares which is on the river bank and will entail a different master planning,” Sanjay Kaul Managing Director and Group CEO of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd — a State-owned entity that builds, plans and manages the city’s core development — told businessline in an exclusive interaction at his office in Gandhinagar. He added that six entities — including four global firms —are in contention, with a reputed master planner set to be appointed.
Apart from the reclaimed land along the Sabarmati Riverfront, an additional 85 acres of government land near Shahpur village —contiguous to the existing development — will be integrated into GIFT City. “This land parcel is contiguous to the existing GIFT City. The allocation process is in motion,” Kaul said. Currently, GIFT City spans 1,065 acres, of which 741 acres are owned by the project company — now a wholly owned State entity following the exit of IL&FS — while the remaining land is privately held.
A draft of the revised master plan is expected to be submitted to the Government of Gujarat within the next four months. An earlier, far more ambitious plan to expand GIFT City had been proposed in 2023, when authorities considered increasing its footprint by around 2,300 acres — more than tripling the project size to about 3,365 acres by incorporating four surrounding villages in Gandhinagar district. However, the proposal did not move forward in its original form and was effectively rolled back as policymakers opted for a more calibrated approach, focusing on orderly development and infrastructure within the existing limits before taking on such a large-scale territorial increase.
The proposed expansion of 161 acres comes alongside steady progress in construction. “This year, 1.24 million square metres of commercial space will be ready and 2.36 million square metres of residential space is also expected to be completed,” Kaul said. Out of the planned 62 million square feet of total development in GIFT City, around 6 million square feet has already been completed. Allocation for another 29.1 million square feet has been awarded and is expected to be completed by mid-2028, indicating a strong pipeline of upcoming projects.
Published on April 28, 2026