Broking, insurance and banking transactions cross $4 bn at GIFT City's IFSC

With 13 more approved, number of units with financial SEZ cross the 100 mark

The number of units in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) has risen to 103, with 13 more being approved by the special economic zone (SEZ) development commissioner.

The units approved include broking, IT, reinsurance, and banking firms such as HDFC Bank, Karvy Broking Ltd, Pabhudas Lilladher IFSC Pvt, JM Global Wealth IFSC Pvt, Softpulse Technology, Airan Global Pvt, Lucent Innovation, and J B Boda Reinsurance Brokers Pvt.

According to Ajay Pandey, managing director and Group chief executive officer, GIFT City, the IFSC now has 87 capital market units, 10 banks, and six insurance companies.

Of these, while bank transactions have crossed $3 billion through international banking units (IBUs) within the IFSC, insurance companies have insured policyholders for $1 billion, and stock exchanges have seen single-day trading of around $100 million.

“Two more entities like Axis Bank are also applying shortly and we expect the National Stock Exchange to start by the first week of June, which will result in a flurry of entities coming to GIFT City's IFSC,” said Pandey.

Commenting on the approval of units within the SEZ, Upendra Vasishth, development commissioner, Kandla SEZ (KASEZ), said that with more broking and insurance firms expected to set up shop within the IFSC, SEZ exports from Gujarat would also get a boost.

“For three years — 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16 — we had seen a fall in exports from SEZs in Gujarat. However, last year there was a turnaround with exports growing at 4 per cent. GIFT City's IFSC will contribute further in exports growth and this is just a beginning. Last year, exports from GIFT's IFSC were Rs 270 crore and this year they could go beyond Rs 1,000 crore,” said Vasishth. According to the development commissioner, with banks finding it easy to set up units in the IFSC with low infrastructure cost, more business could be expected from GIFT City.

“Stock exchanges are right now doing limited trading of proprietary and derivatives. Once they are allowed more, they are set to grow faster,” Vasishth said.