Nirmala Sitharaman visits GIFT-IFSC at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat with big plans

A delegation was lead today by Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs to the Gift City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The delegation also included two minister of state for Finance and their secretaries. The delegation discussed together the matters of growth and development of India’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

The delegation participated in various interactive sessions on Banking and Insurance, and Capital Markets. The event also witnessed presentation given by MD and CEO of Gift City, besides a presentation by the Chairman of IFCSA. The journey of GIFT-IFSC was covered at length through the presentations. An open discussion on Growth Opportunities in GIFT-IFSC also took place on the occasion.

On the occasion Nirmala Sithraman announced that three key proposals of International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) was alredy approved by Department of Economic Affairs. These proposal included Rs. 200 crore for building of the Head Quarter of IFSCA with the Grant in Aid of Rs 100 crore. The remaining Rs 100 crore was provided as loan by the government. The second proposal was Rs. 269.05 crore for the development of IT infrastructure for IFSCA. The third proposal included Rs 45.75 crore for IFSCA FinTech Scheme.

Sitharaman added that it is through GIFT-IFSC at GIFT City the Government of India’s endeavour is towards making India a global financial gateway.

She added that a bullion exchange is also expected to come up soon and for this all necessary infrastructure for safe vault facilities are completed and operational. She opined that Bullion exchange will turn out to be a big game changer for the country. Sitharaman added that officials should look for various ways through which more companies can be listed at the GIFT IFSC.

She also suggested that an interaction with leading start-ups dealing with FinTech and other activities was needed. These are present in Bengaluru, Gurugram, Hyderabad and various other locations. Sitharaman urged the Gujarat Government to explore the options on facilitating the leading start-ups to located within the GIFT City but outside the IFSC. This is required for the creation of global financial hub.