Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman visited the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, and reviewed the progress of GIFT International Finance Services Centre (GIFT IFSC) and interacted with key market participants.
The high-level review meeting was also attended by Shri Kanubhai Desai, Minister of Finance, Energy & Petrochemicals, Government of Gujarat; Finance Secretary and Secretary, DEA; Secretaries of all Departments of Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Ministry of Corporate Affairs; D/o Legal Affairs; Officer on Special Duty and Secretary Designate, DEA; Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Deputy Governor, RBI; Chairpersons of IFSCA, GIFT City Co. Ltd, SEBI; Acting Chairperson, IRDAI; and senior officials from Ministry of Finance and the Government of Gujarat.
GIFT City Co. Ltd and IFSCA made presentations on key policy, regulatory, and tax reforms aimed at positioning GIFT IFSC as a leading global financial centre. In her intervention, while commending the GIFT IFSC’s role in enhancing India’s global financial standing and acknowledging its impact on reshaping international financial engagement by Indian companies and individuals, the Union Finance Minister stressed on fast-tracking the reforms in next few years itself, to enable growth to align with the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’.
Reiterating GIFT IFSC’s core mandate for focussing on bringing foreign capital into India through structured and well-regulated channels, Smt. Sitharaman also laid emphasis on the importance of Indian financial sector regulators to take initiatives for identifying aspirational needs of GIFT IFSC in this direction.
The Union Finance Minister indicated that the twin advantages of India pertaining to technology and availability of a very large domestic market and its fiinancing needs must be leveraged to gain competitive advantage.
Smt. Sitharaman exhorted officials to work towards making GIFT IFSC more competitive and cost effective to attract HNI investments in the country, and underlined the potential of IFSCA’s role in mobilising Sovereign and Pension Funds at IFSC for financial needs of the country and also for alignment of talent development with GIFT IFSC’s expanding mandate, for ensuring a deep and future-ready workforce.
Given India’s status as a major gold importer, the Union Finance Minister stressed on the need to scale up operations at the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) by expanding stakeholder participation and strengthening price discovery, thereby positioning GIFT IFSC as a global bullion hub.
At the roundtable interaction with senior representatives from 21 institutions, the Union Finance Minister interacted with MDs and CEOs, Chairpersons, Founders, and CFOs from banking, insurance, capital markets, funds industry, finance companies, payment services providers, aircraft and ship leasing firms, TechFin firms, ITFS platform providers and foreign universities.
During the roundtable, the various market participants highlighted their experiences of operating from the IFSC and appreciated the facilitation of setting up of business by IFSCA. Participants also suggested additional initiatives for achieving further opportunities for growth of financial services business.
While appreciating the participants for their constructive suggestions, Smt. Sitharaman mentioned that regular interactions such as these with investors over the years by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and senior officials from the Government have helped in resolving the concerns and enable business growth.
The Union Finance Minister remarked that GIFT IFSC should be developed as a prominent gateway for global capital flows into India to feed the needs of high growth sectors for India’s growth trajectory over the next two decades.
Smt. Sitharaman further underscored the importance of developing GIFT City into a dynamic smart city, equipped with integrated, modern, and sustainable living infrastructure, and stated that establishing such world-class amenities is essential to attracting top-tier talent from both domestic and international markets.