GIFT City to Expand by 15%, Adding Over 161 Acres to Its Footprint

GIFT City is set to expand by more than 15 per cent, with plans to add 161 acres to its existing 1,065-acre area, taking the total development footprint to over 1,220 acres as India’s flagship financial hub enters a new phase of growth.

The expansion will come through a combination of riverfront land reclamation and the allocation of contiguous government land, reflecting a more measured approach to scaling up the project after an earlier, more ambitious expansion proposal was withdrawn by authorities.

Reclamation and Government Land to Drive Growth

According to Sanjay Kaul, Managing Director and Group CEO of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd, around 31 hectares of land on the Sabarmati riverbank will be added through reclamation as part of the larger riverfront development.

“This is about 31 hectares which is on the river bank and will entail a different master planning,” Kaul said in an exclusive interaction with businessline at his office in Gandhinagar."

"He added that a master planner for the newly reclaimed stretch will be selected from six entities, including four global firms in addition to the reclaimed area, another 85 acres of government land near Shahpur village is expected to be integrated into GIFT City. The parcel is contiguous to the existing development, and the allocation process is currently underway"

At present, GIFT City spans 1,065 acres. Of this, 741 acres are owned by the project company, which is now a wholly owned state entity after the exit of IL&FS, while the remaining land is privately held.

Revised Master Plan in the Works

A draft of the revised master plan is expected to be submitted to the Government of Gujarat within the next four months. The updated plan is likely to reflect the city’s next phase of infrastructure and land-use expansion, while maintaining a more calibrated pace of growth.

GIFT City Development Snapshot (2026)

This marks a shift from the larger expansion proposal floated in 2023, when authorities had considered increasing GIFT City’s footprint by around 2,300 acres. That plan, which would have taken the total area to roughly 3,365 acres by absorbing four surrounding villages in Gandhinagar district, did not move ahead in its original form.

Policy makers later opted for a more gradual development strategy, with greater emphasis on orderly expansion and infrastructure readiness within the existing framework before taking on a much larger territorial increase.

Construction Momentum Continues

The proposed expansion comes as construction activity at GIFT City continues to move forward steadily.

Kaul said, "1.24 million square metres of commercial space is expected to be completed this year, while 2.36 million square metres of residential space is also likely to be delivered during the same period."

Out of the total planned development of 62 million square feet, around 6 million square feet has already been completed. Another 29.1 million square feet has been allotted and is expected to be finished by mid-2028, indicating a substantial pipeline of upcoming projects.

The expansion, once formalized, is expected to strengthen GIFT City’s position as a growing financial and business destination, even as the project balances long-term scale with infrastructure-led planning.