Gujarat has retained its position as India's top exporting state in FY2025-26, contributing $110 billion to the country's highest-ever combined merchandise and services exports of $863 billion, officials confirmed on Tuesday, 28 July. The milestone underscores Gujarat's outsized role in India's external trade architecture and its growing manufacturing footprint.

What Drove Gujarat's Export Performance

The state's export base spans a wide industrial spectrum — engineering products, petroleum products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, and electronics. Industry representatives attribute this breadth to Gujarat's export-oriented industrial policies, which have been consistently refined over the past several years to strengthen the state's competitiveness in overseas markets.

Narendra Panchani, President of the Rajkot Engineering Association, said Gujarat's policy environment had been a decisive factor. 'Over the past few years, Gujarat, along with India, has played a leading role in exports because of its various policies. Gujarat's Industrial Policy has remained the number one policy, and the recently introduced new policy is the first of its kind in India,' Panchani said.

Infrastructure and Logistics as Competitive Advantages

Gujarat holds a structural edge that few Indian states can match: it has the country's longest coastline and hosts several major ports that handle a substantial share of India's total cargo traffic. This geographic advantage, combined with a well-developed road and rail network, has materially reduced logistics costs for exporters.

Former Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chairman Vinod Agrawal noted that competitive logistics costs and robust transport infrastructure had been central to the state's export competitiveness. The state is also home to multiple Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which have emerged as key hubs for export-oriented manufacturing and trade activity.

Emerging Sectors: Semiconductors and Advanced Manufacturing

Beyond its established export verticals, Gujarat is actively expanding into semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. Large-scale investments in high-technology projects are expected to broaden the state's export basket and deepen its integration into global supply chains.

Rahul Singh, Ahmedabad Joint Director of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said growing investments in new-age industries — including semiconductors and financial services — were expected to further enhance Gujarat's export capacity in the years ahead. This positions the state to benefit from global supply-chain diversification trends that have accelerated since 2020.

Alignment with National Trade Goals

Officials and industry representatives said Gujarat's performance is closely aligned with the Centre's broader trade and manufacturing ambitions under Make in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. The state's combination of port infrastructure, established industrial clusters, export-friendly policies, and international market connectivity has allowed it to sustain its lead among Indian states for multiple consecutive years.

With semiconductor investments coming online and traditional sectors remaining robust, Gujarat's share of India's export pie is expected to hold — or grow — in FY2026-27.