Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that India’s future is bright with the country becoming a pioneer in AI and deep tech, which is going to guide the world economy in two and a half decades.

He was inaugurating the first phase of Million Minds Tech City (MMTC) – Gujarat’s first IGBC Platinum-rated SEZ IT Park and Ahmedabad’s first integrated Tech City. The MMTC has been set up by Ganesh Housing Limited.

Conceived as a future-ready economic ecosystem, the entire project, when completed, is expected to catalyse over 70,000 high-skilled jobs while strengthening Ahmedabad’s emergence as a leading destination for GCCs, technology enterprises, innovation-led businesses and knowledge economy sectors.

Gujarat, Shah said, has done well in manufacturing, engineering, pharma, ports, logistics, green energy, industrial infrastructure and investment. “If we want to compete with cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram, there is a need to focus on tech parks and GCCs,” he said, adding that it won’t take a long time for Gujarat to be in the top three spots in the country.

The Union Home Minister also spoke about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided Gujarat, which was already doing well, with structured development by the Vibrant Gujarat Summits.

Also making a mention about Ganesh Real Estate Management Institute, Shah said there is a requirement of “tech youth” for robotics, quantum computing, semiconductors, cybersecurity, space technology, and both the institute and MMTC will give space and facilities.

Strategically located at Vaishnodevi Circle within the high-growth Ahmedabad-GIFT City-Gandhinagar corridor, MMTC is envisioned as a large-scale “city within a city” spread across nearly 65 acres, with an overall planned development potential of approximately 18 million square feet. The MMTC will have Grade A commercial and technology office spaces, premium residential developments and retail, hospitality, social and lifestyle infrastructure.

The GHL has developed the project, at a cost of Rs 15000 crore, in collaboration with globally renowned real estate developer and operator Tishman Speyer as project management partners and RSP Architects as the design partner. An amount of Rs 1,100 crore has been invested in the first phase.

Shekhar Patel, MD & CEO of GHL and national president of CREDAI, told FE that out of the nearly 1.3 million square feet development in Phase I, nearly 8 lakh square feet has been already leased to leading global and domestic enterprises like DevX, Valtech, TCS, IBM and APSER Life Science.

Patel said that the GIFT City will act like an anchor for MMTC. He pointed out that Gujarat is aspiring to become the GCC hub of the country, and it should happen in 10 years.