What is GIFT City? How Indian investors, NRIs and foreign businesses can benefit from it

GIFT City

The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is the country’s first financial and tech hub with a global orientation. Located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, it was established in 2015 as the first smart city and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). The aim was to build a world-class financial centre, modelled on the Singapore and Dubai financial hubs, that would attract foreign businesses and offer Indian investors easy access to global markets. It is spread over 886 acres, out of which 261 acres comprise the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

What does it offer?

Unified regulator & ease of business: The IFSC Authority provides a single window clearance for all approvals related to the markets, banking and insurance, taking on the combined role of domestic regulators like the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).


Fiscal benefits: It offers special incentives like tax exemptions and holidays to fuel business growth, besides grants, subsidies, reduced costs and regulatory ease to attract industries and investors.

Smart city benefits: To attract residents, it offers green buildings and technology, sustainable waste and traffic management, and high-level security and intelligence features.

State-of-the-art infrastructure: It offers world-class facilities, amenities and technology for ease of conducting business and transactions.

Can NRIs benefit?

Non-resident Indians can build global wealth portfolios with a wide range of investment opportunities and tax advantages. They can open savings accounts in foreign currencies and use these to access and invest in various global instruments, such as equities, debt, real estate and REITs, and private equity.

They can also choose from high-end products, such as discretionary and non-discretionary Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Focused PMS and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), including global equity, hedge funds, etc.