Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, also called GIFT City, is a central business district under construction in the Gandhinagar district as suburb city of Ahmedabad in Ahmedabad Metropolitan Region in Gujarat, India. It is India's first operational greenfield smart city and international financial services centre, which the Government of Gujarat promoted as a greenfield project. In 2020 GIFT IFSC bagged 10th place in Finance Industry and top rank in emerging financial centres in the Global Financial Centres Index. As of June 2023, it is home to 23 PSBs and multi-national banks, many of the first banks that started operation in early 2010s include Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank etc. Furthermore, it includes 35 fintech entities, two international stock exchanges with average daily trading volumes of $30.6 billion, as well as India's first international bullion exchange with 75 onboarded jewellers. The city is located on the banks of the Sabarmati River and is around 12 km from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The city is designed so residents can walk to work, and includes commercial, financial and residential complexes. The city is connected through 4-6 lane state and national highways. A metro station is also planned for construction, which would connect GIFT City to the Ahmedabad Metro network. This is expected to be completed by March 2024. The total area for the development of GIFT is 886 acre out of which the special economic zone (SEZ) constitutes 261 acre. The project area under development can hence be classified under the SEZ area and the non-SEZ area (also known as the Domestic Tariff area or the DTA). With the opening of the first campuses of two Australian universities on 7 November 2023 in the presence of Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan and Australian Education Minister Jason Clare, GIFT City is beginning to establish itself as the centre of foreign universities in the nation.

Etymology

The name "GIFT" is an acronym that stands for "Gujarat International Finance Tec-City". The word "Gujarat" refers to the western Indian state where the city is located. "International" signifies that the city is intended to be a global hub for financial and business services, attracting businesses and investors from around the world. "Finance" highlights the primary focus of the development, which is to create a world-class financial centre."Tec-City" stands for "Technology-based SEZ" (Special Economic Zone).

History

On 15 December 2011, The Economic Times reported city officials in GIFT were inviting companies from Singapore that wished to expand but could not do so due to a lack of land in Singapore to open their businesses in GIFT. Investments from banks, private equity companies, insurance companies and asset management companies were considered. On 26 December 2011, The Times of India reported China's technology giant Huawei was likely to provide technology to GIFT. According to Eric Yu, president, of enterprise business of Huawei India, this technology included networks, data centres and surveillance. On 2 October 2014, NetIndian reported a new World Trade Centre would be set up in GIFT City as per an agreement between the World Trade Centre India Services Council (WTCS) and GIFT City Ltd. It would be completed within four years. BSE Broker's Forum planned to invest inr 1200000000 to build a commercial tower to set up back-office operations. They were allocated 300000 sqft to develop the commercial tower with the likelihood of setting up an exchange office. According to The Times of India on 18 October 2014, the Bangalore-based Brigade Group would invest inr 5000000000 over the next few years to develop 1.1 e6sqft of built-up area with a future option of investing another inr 6000000000 to develop 1.7 e6sqft. In November 2018, The Wire reported the Government of Gujarat State would buy out the 50% stake of beleaguered Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in the GIFT City to minimize delays to the project. In June, 2020, IL&FS concluded sale of its stake in GIFT-City for inr 320000000 equity value to the state government. According to Business Standard, OPS Fund Services, a subsidiary of OPS Global, Singapore, received a license to open in the International Financial Service Centre at GIFT city. On 5 December 2019, Business Standard reported that Bank of America opened a Global Business Services Center at GIFT. On 6 January 2020, Accor opened the first international hotel in GIFT City. On 20 January 2020, The Economic Times reported GIFT was ready to begin trading in rupee-dollar in the futures market. In July 2022, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group opened new offices at the International Financial Services Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally opened Singapore Exchange's futures trading operation "Nifty", and India's first international bullion exchange was opened.

Implementation

Construction timeline

Major construction events in GIFT City, Gujarat, India:

Consultants

Status

As part of Phase-I development, around 8.4 e6sqft of built-up area has already been allotted from the 13 e6sqft available for commercial, residential and social use. On 11 September 2019, Tapan Ray, managing director and Group CEO of GIFT City, said the city had attracted around inr 110000000 of investment.

Divisions

The total area for the development of GIFT is 886 acre out of which the SEZ (Special Economic Zone) constitutes 261 acre. The project area under development can hence be classified under the SEZ area and the Non-SEZ area (also known as the Domestic Tariff area or the DTA). GIFT City is divided into two zones: The city is divided into the following divisions by area:

Tax benefits

GIFT City, through its International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), provides several tax benefits aimed at luring both domestic and international investments. These incentives include exemptions from certain taxes for companies under the new tax regime, tax holidays for specific sectors, and GST-free services for IFSC SEZ units. Further perks include various state subsidies and tax exemptions for exchanges established under the IFSC.

Liquor Policy in GIFT City

In December 2023, the Government of Gujarat authorized the controlled consumption of liquor within Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). This policy permits liquor to be served in restaurants, hotels, and clubs within GIFT City, but only to its permanent employees and their authorized visitors, as sanctioned by the respective companies' human resources departments. The sale of liquor bottles remains prohibited.

Administration

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited

The Government of Gujarat formed "Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited" (GIFTCL) to develop and implement GIFT City through its venture Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDCL). GIFT City is an 886 acre integrated project that creates 62 million square feet of built-up area, including 67% commercial space, 22% residential space and 11% community space.

GIFT Managing Bodies

For the purpose of implementation of the SEZ, GIFT Company Limited has set up an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) (100% subsidiary of GIFTCL) namely GIFT SEZ Ltd, designated as the developer organization of the SEZ. GIFTCL has also set up 5 subsidiary companies for the implementation of specialized infrastructure including Power, Water, ICT (Information & Communication Technology), District Cooling and solid waste management.