Surat, Gujarat’s second most populous city and India’s global hub for diamonds and textiles, is steadily emerging as a reference point for modern urban governance. Once viewed primarily through the lens of industrial growth and migration pressure, Surat today represents a new governance paradigm, where political continuity, strong law and order, and the integration of modern technology into governance are reshaping the city’s future.
The city’s governance strength is rooted in its long engagement with global trade. As early as 1613, Surat became the first point of British colonial entry into India, marking the beginnings of structured administration in western India. Long before Mumbai’s rise, Surat functioned as India’s principal port city, cultivating a mercantile culture accustomed to regulation, contracts, and institutional order.
This historical exposure to formal governance continues to shape Surat’s contemporary administrative capacity. Surat’s recent transformation is closely linked to Gujarat’s political continuity over the past two decades. Unlike cities shaped by episodic reforms, Surat has benefited from a sustained focus on law and order, institutional strengthening, and predictable policy execution. This continuity has allowed governance systems to deepen rather than reset, especially in policing and civic administration. A core pillar of the Surat Governance Model is its assertive and preventive approach to law enforcement under the stewardship of Harsh Sanghvi, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister of Gujarat. The expansion of police infrastructure, including new stations and housing projects worth nearly ₹75 crore announced in December 2025, has improved field presence, response times, and personnel welfare, while regular patrols and targeted operations have become institutionalised.
Crucially, the Surat Police have played a decisive role in protecting businesses from economic offenders, cheaters, and organised intimidation. Technology has reinforced this governance framework. The NETRAM AI-driven Police Control Room, operationalised in 2025, integrates over 1,600 AI-enabled cameras with facial recognition, automatic number plate recognition, red-light violation detection, and live analytics, enabling real-time intervention against both street crime and economic offences. These efforts align with Gujarat’s AI Action Plan (2025–30), which promotes AI-enabled governance and large-scale skill development.
The strategic use of the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act marks a shift from incident-driven policing to ecosystem-level crime control. Of the 1,157 individuals booked under PASA across Gujarat between 2022 and 2024, 532 were from Surat alone. These actions have
targeted extortion rackets, land-grabbing syndicates, bootlegging networks, drug operations, and habitual fraudsters, activities that directly undermine trade, investment, and small business confidence. For Surat’s trading and manufacturing communities, effective policing has translated into enforceable contracts and reduced informal coercion.
On the civil administration side, the Surat Municipal Corporation has leveraged technology through its Integrated Command and Control Centre, linking over 4,300 CCTV cameras tomonitor civic services, traffic management, and monsoon response. Municipal schools have also introduced AI, robotics, and drone education, ensuring that technological capacity is institutionally embedded rather than externally dependent.
The economic impact of this governance framework is now evident. According to NITI Aayog, the Surat Economic Region contributes nearly 25 percent of Gujarat’s GDP. Ample land availability, minimal construction restrictions, and proximity to the Hazira and Dahej seaports
give Surat a structural advantage over congested metros. Strong law and order and time-bound clearances have reinforced investor confidence, placing Surat among India’s leading cities for ease of doing business, while Smart City–led investments are driving diversification into finance, logistics, IT services, and advanced manufacturing.
Global projections reinforce this trajectory. United Nations urbanisation data and research by Oxford Economics project Surat as the world’s fastest-growing city between 2019 and 2035, with GDP growth averaging 9.2 percent annually, and indicate that it could overtake Mumbai in
both population and economic scale in the coming decades.
Surat’s experience offers a larger lesson for urban India. Sustainable growth does not emerge from isolated projects or infrastructure alone; it is built on disciplined governance, credible law enforcement that protects economic activity, institutional continuity, and the steady alignment of
technology with long-term public benefit.
Rakesh Singh is Managing Editor, ITV Network
