Ahmedabadculture & etiquette

Gujarat has been dry since it was carved out of Bombay State in 1960, under what is now the Gujarat Prohibition Act 1949 — the Bombay Prohibition Act, renamed in 2011 and stiffened in 2017. Foreign nationals and people who do not reside in Gujarat can apply for a permit — a short visitor permit, or a longer permit on documented health grounds for applicants over 40 — through the Prohibition and Excise Department, and can then buy limited quantities from licensed shops attached to certain hotels. Carrying alcohol into Gujarat without a permit, or buying from a bootlegger, is a criminal offence with imprisonment on the statute. Newcomers consistently underestimate this because everyone tells them 'you can get it anyway'. You can, illegally, and periodically people are prosecuted.

The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act 1991 — the Disturbed Areas Act, whose notified areas an amendment passed by the Gujarat Assembly in March 2026 renamed 'specified areas' — lets the District Collector notify parts of a city where no transfer of property may take place without the Collector's prior written permission. The Act's own definition of 'transfer' is sale, gift, exchange, lease 'or otherwise', so an ordinary tenancy is caught and not just a sale. Large parts of Ahmedabad are notified, including most of the walled city. In practice this means a landlord in a notified area may not be able to let to you at all without a Collector's order, and an agreement made without one is void. Ask the question explicitly, in writing, before you pay a deposit.

If your visa is valid for more than 180 days you must register with the FRRO within 14 days of landing. Ahmedabad has one of India's fifteen full Foreigners Regional Registration Offices, at the Government Polytechnic campus in Ambawadi, with jurisdiction across Gujarat — so you are not dealing with a district police officer as a side duty, which is the position in most of India. The application itself is online through e-FRRO and needs proof of a Gujarat address, so line up accommodation first.

The Permanent Account Number gates salary, bank accounts, large purchases and your tax return. Foreign nationals apply on Form 49AA rather than the Aadhaar-based instant e-PAN, which is not available to you. Without a PAN your employer may be required to deduct tax at a substantially higher rate, and getting that back means filing a return and waiting.

Ahmedabad has one of the highest vegetarian populations of any large city in the world, and a substantial Jain community for whom onion, garlic and root vegetables are also excluded. Many housing societies are vegetarian-only by their own rules and will say so during the flat viewing; the municipal corporation has also restricted non-vegetarian street carts on some main roads. None of this is hostile, but if you cook meat at home, raise it before signing rather than after.

Ahmedabad regularly exceeds 45°C in May, and the city has run South Asia's first formal municipal heat action plan since 2013, written after the May 2010 heatwave produced more than 1,300 excess deaths in a single month. Between March and June, arrange work and errands before eleven in the morning. From late November to February the weather is superb, which is why Uttarayan, Navratri and the wedding season all cluster into the cool half of the year.