Ahmedabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that after achieving strong growth in manufacturing, engineering and green energy, Gujarat must now enter the top three states in the service sector and position Ahmedabad alongside leading technology hubs of the country.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the Million Minds Tech Park in Ahmedabad.
Addressing the gathering, Shah said the projects mark a step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to expand technology, innovation and high-skill industries in Gujarat.
“Gujarat has performed exceptionally well across a wide spectrum of sectors: manufacturing, engineering, pharmaceuticals, ports, logistics, green energy, industrial infrastructure, and investment. The time has now come to elevate Gujarat to a position among the top three states in the service sector as well,” he said, adding that whenever Gujarat steps into a sector with determination, it takes no time to secure a spot among the top three, and it will achieve the same success in the IT sector as well.
He said that projects like Million Minds Tech City will not only create world-class infrastructure and employment opportunities but also position Ahmedabad alongside the country’s leading technology destinations.
“If we are to rank alongside Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Gurugram, then tech parks like this are essential for Ahmedabad to secure that position,” he added.
Shah said India has emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence and that the Centre is promoting robotics, quantum computing, semiconductors, automation, cybersecurity, defence and space technology.
He said Gujarat has led industrial growth since Independence and gained global recognition after 2002 through structured policies, infrastructure development, ease of doing business and entrepreneurship-led growth.
The Centre is focusing on tech parks and Global Capability Centres as India shifts towards a services-led, high-skill economy, with such infrastructure aimed at attracting global firms and generating high-value jobs, the home minister said.
The Million Minds Tech Park, developed over 13.5 lakh square feet at a cost of about ₹1,100 crore, will provide a work environment for 9,000 professionals in its first phase. “The project will be expanded in seven phases with an estimated investment of ₹15,000 crore and is expected to generate more than 63,000 high-value jobs over the next five years,” Shah said.
Spread across 65 acres, the project has 50% space for commercial use and includes malls, hotels and residential facilities, forming an integrated ecosystem.
Shah also inaugurated the Ganesh Real Estate Management Institute campus and said the real estate sector requires structured professional training. The campus will accommodate 300 students initially, while a 100-acre facility near Thol Lake will be developed at an estimated cost of ₹500 crore.
Commenting on the launch, Shekhar Patel, MD & CEO Ganesh Housing Ltd., and National President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), said, “Million Minds Tech City is fundamentally an economic growth and employment generation story for Gujarat. We are building an ecosystem that will directly and indirectly generate over 70,000 jobs, enable reverse migration of Gujarat’s talent pool, and strengthen Ahmedabad’s position as a serious destination for global corporations and GCCs.”
The home minister, who is on a two day visit to Gujarat, also inaugurated the Innovation and Incubation Centre at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad on Sunday and said the institute must expand into high-technology sectors such as semiconductor and chip design while helping young designers turn creativity into viable careers.
Addressing the event, Shah said design was not limited to art but played a role across sectors, including industrial and technical projects. He said India had a strong tradition of design and craftsmanship but its potential needed structured development.
He said the objective behind NID was to promote design culture and realise its commercial value. He said many people possessed design skills but could not pursue them due to social and economic constraints, adding that institutions like NID must provide access and support.
He said the new centre would support innovation but stressed the need to guide designers in commercialisation and entrepreneurship. Shah said NID should create a separate vertical to connect students with industry and professional opportunities.
Shah said India would fully utilise its design capacity only when creativity and commercial application were aligned, and urged youth to take up design as a profession.
Referring to traditional textile art such as Patan Patola, Shah said India’s cultural heritage reflected precision and design excellence, and called for greater awareness of design’s practical value.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Minister of State Harsh Sanghavi were also present at the events.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister also inaugurated the newly built milk processing plant of Madhur Dairy at Dashela in Gandhinagar on Sunday evening.
Addressing a gathering he said that the new Madhur Dairy plant will become a foundation for the economic upliftment of livestock farmers and that 75% of the profit will be directly deposited into the bank accounts of animal husbandry farmers.
Describing the dairy sector as an important instrument of women empowerment, Shah said that Gujarat currently collects nearly 3 crore litres of milk every day through 3.6 million women livestock farmers, resulting in around Rs. 200 crores being deposited daily into their bank accounts. Sharing his personal experience, he said women who were once financially dependent have now become the “heads of their households” because of the dairy sector.
The Union Minister further announced that the government has set a target of increasing livestock farmers’ income by at least 20 percent by promoting a “circular economy” model in the dairy sector.
“Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “White Revolution 2.0, the target is to triple the country’s milk production over the next 10 years,” according to Shah.
Later on Sunday, Shah also virtually inaugurated and laid foundation stones for various development projects worth ₹620 crore undertaken by the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation in the presence of Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel.
