GIFT City is shifting its focus from becoming a global financial centre to bringing more India-related cross-border financial business back to the country, with the regulator signalling a push to plug gaps in products, expertise and regulation that drive such business overseas.
"If GIFT is able to serve what you always wanted to do from India, then there is no need to create structures outside," Dipesh Shah, executive director of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), said during a panel discussion on the role of international financial services centres in achieving the goals of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.
Shah said the first phase of GIFT City's development was focused on creating the regulatory framework and attracting financial institutions. The next phase, he said, is to ensure that more business is actually transacted from the centre.
He said GIFT should become a landing point for both inbound and outbound investment and urged Indian institutions to assess whether activities currently routed through Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius and other financial centres could instead be conducted through GIFT.
"GIFT can only become successful when we all start putting our trust into our own financial centre," Shah said. Some of that shift is already under way. According to Shah, around 70% of India's external commercial borrowings are now being booked through GIFT City, while the fund ecosystem has grown to about 400 funds and more than 150 fund managers, with commitments of around $40 billion.
