FM Sitharaman leads team of top officers to GIFT City in Gujarat

A plethora of opportunities for exploring innovative and diverse financial products and services such as aircraft leasing, bullion trading and global in-house centres have also been made available at the GIFT-City in Gujarat, writes Krishnanand Tripathi, Deputy News Editor, ETV Bharat.

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is visiting GIFT City in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat today with a team of seven top officers from the ministry of finance and ministry of corporate affairs to discuss the development and growth of the country’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), a favourite project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Two junior ministers in the ministry of finance, Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad will also join her in the discussions with the seven secretaries that include finance secretary TV Somanathan, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj, economic affairs secretary Ajit Seth, secretary in the department of financial services Debasish Panda, and Rajesh Verma, secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs, among others.

Officials said the discussions will focus on the role of GIFT-International Finance Centre as a gateway to global financial services for Indian corporates within the country, how to attract global financial business to India and how to develop GIFT city as a global fintech hub.

Sitharaman, who announced her intention to take all seven secretaries to GIFT City in Gujarat during an interaction with the industry leaders in a programme organized by the CII on Thursday, will also take stock of the development of key infrastructure facilities at the GIFT City.

The finance minister will also interact with several stakeholders and companies that are operating in the country’s first International Financial Services Centre.

“The visit underlines the commitment of the Government of India towards developing GIFT-IFSC as India’s premier financial services centre and dominant gateway for global financial flows into and out of India,” said the finance ministry.

Officials said the discussions will bring together a confluence of ideas and strategies for faster development of GIFT-IFSC which was created with the vision of onshoring offshore financial activities which reflects the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat (a self-reliant India).

GIFT City – International Financial Services Centre

The finance ministry said collaborative efforts have been made by the Central government, the Gujarat government, GIFT City and International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) which is the unified financial sector regulator for GIFT-IFSC, to provide world-class financial regulations, vibrant infrastructure and a competitive tax regime.

It said a plethora of opportunities for exploring innovative and diverse financial products and services such as aircraft leasing, bullion trading and global in-house centres have also been made available at the GIFT-City.

“With some of the best-in-league infrastructure for incubation of start-ups in the form of Fintech accelerators and lab and with global events such as ‘IFSC Beyond Boundary Fintech festival’ and hackathons being on the anvil, GIFT-IFSC is rapidly emerging as a thriving Fintech hub in the region,” said the ministry.