GIFT City carves a niche
New ecosystem: The buildings house heavyweights such as SBI, Citibank, LIC, BSE, Google and banks.
Tall towers loom in the distance as you head out of Ahmedabad on National Highway 48 towards Gandhinagar. The steel-and-glass structures come into full view along the highway as you cross the security check-point of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City in short, and drive into its sprawling premises.
The buildings house heavyweights such as SBI, Citibank, LIC, BSE, Google and banks — domestic and foreign. Besides, there are separate towers for the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA), the International Bullion Exchange and units of BSE and NSE.
In the past 10 years, GIFT City has attracted more than 660 rms. “In the last four years, about 28 regulations and 14 frameworks have been put in place and the outcome has been phenomenal. The regulations are receiving a lot of traction among investors in India and abroad,” K. Rajaraman, chairman, IFSCA told businessline.
The ecosystem now boasts of 25-odd aircraft leasing and nancing rms that have leased out 150 aviation assets; India’s rst International Bullion Exchange (IIB◣), which has traded eight tonne of gold and 900 tonne of silver till March; 28 IFSC banking units with cumulative banking transactions of $755 billion and banking assets of $56 billion (till February); 33 insurance and intermediary rms that booked a gross premium of $319 million (till December 2023), 100-plus Alternate Investment Funds that have committed $32.65 billion (till February 2024); 94 fund management entities, two international stock exchanges, 64 ancillary service rms and more than 45 ntech rms.
(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)