Financial services sector is the engine in India’s growth story and the banking sector is its fuel. The Indian banking sector has been at center of the growth and economic aspirations of the country.

At GIFT CITY, the Indian as well as foreign banks can set up an IFSC Banking Unit (IBU). The IBUs facilitate a base for world class International Banking services in the country. These banking units are treated at par with a foreign branch.

For Banks, the light touch regulatory environment presents enormous opportunities to expand existing business and develop new business. Expanding wealth, accelerating cross border trade, and growing investment reflect these opportunities.

Efficient capital allocation is an increasing priority. The corporates are no longer looking at self-funding or bank loans to finance growth. Companies are increasingly tapping equity and debt markets to fund their projects.

This results into a demand for full range of capital market products and services. With various tax benefits, GIFT CITY offers an ideal platform to deliver capital market solutions to clients across the world. It also offers direct access to institutional and high net worth individuals looking to access equity, commodities, currency derivatives markets.

A robust Fund Management industry along with a well-developed ecosystem is pivotal to the growth of capital markets, which are critical to a developing a country’s economy. The investors look for regionally based experts to address their complex investment requirements.

With the availability of skilled resources, proximity to onshore market, world class infrastructure and unparallel connectivity, GIFT CITY serves an ideal destination for Fund Management Ecosystem. Along with the permission to borrow funds and engage in leveraging activities, GIFT CITY also has enabling ecosystem for fund management with presence of key stakeholders including trustees and fund administration

New opportunities are fueled by a low base of insurance coverage. The spread of the pandemic has yet again demonstrated that the world is a global village, trade spans across national borders and there is no decoupling of economies. As more businesses go overseas, global insurance programs are also gaining importance.

Insurance services are one of the most important parts of an International Financial Services Centre for developing essential ecosystem of a financial market and providing insurance solutions to global clientele. The light touch regulations aimed at focusing on ease of doing business and international best practices provide a gateway for insurance service providers to set up their base at GIFT CITY.

GIFT CITY hosts India’s first International Bullion Exchange. Established with the vision of making India an influencer of the global bullion prices, the Bullion Exchange facilitates efficient price discovery and ensure standardization, quality assurance and sourcing integrity in addition to providing impetus to financialization of gold in India. The qualified jewelers can import gold through Bullion Exchange and eligible overseas supplier entities can participate on the Bullion Exchange - including through a remote access mode.

Global experience has shown that the non-banking financial institutions have complemented the role of bank in an economy. A finance company at GIFT CITY can undertake certain activities as permitted core and non-core activities.

As a core activity, a finance company can lend in the form of loans, commitments and guarantees, securitization, and sale and purchase of portfolio, undertake investments including subscribing, acquiring, holding, or transferring securities etc. The non-core activities include merchant banking, trusteeship services, investment advisory, portfolio management services, operating lease, etc.

The Indian aviation sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. India is currently the third largest domestic aviation market and is expected to become the third largest overall (including domestic and international traffic). Currently, India has large aircraft order books, virtually all of which are leased through leasing companies located offshore.

To meet the rising demand and expand the country’s hold in the aviation market, GIFT-CITY is a preferred destination for initiation of operations in this industry as it offers a competitive tax regime & regulations for leasing companies.

India is strategically located on the world’s shipping routes and has a large coastline of approximately 7500 kms. India also has 12 major and over 200 minor ports.

Data from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways suggests that 95% of India’s trading by volume and 70% by value is done via maritime transport. With the presence of Gujarat Maritime Board and a competitive tax regime, ease of doing business, state-of-the-art infrastructure, GIFT CITY offers the right platform for developing a ship acquisition, financing, and leasing ecosystem.

Any company’s back and front workplace functions are essential to any remarkable customer experience. That’s why it’s critical to maintain each front and back-office operations functioning easily and efficiently. With one of the largest skill pools for digital work, India is quickly becoming the world's top digitization hub.

The GICs set up in GIFT CITY can provide support services, directly or indirectly, to entities within its financial services group, including but not limited to banks and non-banking financial companies, financial intermediaries, investment banks, insurance companies, re-insurance companies, actuaries, brokerage firms, funds, stock exchanges, clearing houses, depositories, and custodians, for carrying out a financial service in respect of a financial product. CITY.

These services create large employment prospects and with incentives for the GICs business, convenience of living, and fresh air, road & rail connectivity it becomes attractive to set up your business in GIFT.

Financial technology is a key component in the evolution of financial services industry. India has the most real-time internet transactions worldwide in 2020 with more than 25 billion transactions.

India has the third-largest global FinTech ecosystem and is one of the fastest-expanding FinTech markets. With its strong ecosystem, local and international networking, and concentration of Financial Institutions, the GIFT CITY is well positioned to assist FinTech startups.

The fact that GIFT IFSC is a distinct financial jurisdiction within India with no restrictions on currency conversion and a single regulator for banking, capital markets, insurance, and funds management allow FinTech firms with creative ideas or solutions that cross over into the banking, capital, or insurance sectors to interact with the single regulator in a seamless manner, which improves the ease of doing business.

The IFSC Regulations will now enable Foreign Universities to set up International Campuses in GIFT CITY. Foreign universities in the QS top 500 are permitted to set up a physical presence in India to offer courses including research programs in financial management, fintech, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at GIFT CITY.

Foreign education institutions that provide professional degrees are also allowed to set up in GIFT. Any course or program conducted by a registered entity in the GIFT CITY shall be identical in all respects with the course or program conducted by parent entity in its home jurisdiction

Alongside the tremendous growth in demand for financial services across the countries there is a parallel need for professional services providers. As an International Financial Services Centre, GIFT CITY provides the firms engaged in ancillary services, an ideal platform to serve the entities in IFSC while also providing direct access to international clients.

These firms also enjoy the benefits of an integrated platform with an independent regulatory and legal framework and specialized infrastructure.