India’s international finance hub is facing intensifying competition for talent, with the local heads of two foreign lenders resigning in quick succession for new opportunities in the low-tax center, according to people familiar with the matter.
Two bank chiefs based in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, have stepped down from their roles in the last few months, said the people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified as the matter is private. They said Taral Shah, who headed Singapore’s DBS Bank Ltd.’s GIFT City unit, had handed in his resignation following a nearly 13-year stint that included three years in the hub.
Saiju Gandhi, who led Standard Chartered Plc’s branch in the center, quit after two decades with the lender, including six years in GIFT City, the people said. The bank has appointed Anil Darak as Gandhi’s replacement.
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DBS declined comment and Standard Chartered didn’t reply to emails seeking comment.
Separately, Bejoy Padamadan, head of Mashreq Bank PSC’s branch, has resigned, the bank said in response to a query from Bloomberg News, adding that it is seeking a replacement. Padamadan is leaving just about a year after joining the firm.
GIFT City, based in western India, is home to global banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., alongside local lenders and more than 200 asset managers, insurers and other firms.
The moves come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship business-friendly project, nearly two decades in the making, enters a new phase of growth. Global banks are expanding their presence in the hub, lured by tax incentives and a lighter regulatory framework that make it a more appealing venue for international capital raising.
GIFT City has increasingly drawn business from Asia’s more established financial centers such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Still, a lack of restaurants and entertainment venues has discouraged potential residents. Most of the 28,000 people working in GIFT City live in the nearby cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
