GiftCity banks get off to a roaring start mopping up $650 mn

Country's maiden international finance centre, GiftCity in Ahmedabad, has got off to a good start with financial services players mopping up over USD 650 million in forex funds through the Centre as of June.
"Banks, which have opened their offices in the GiftCity has raised USD 650 million as of end June. Primarily, this has been mopped up by Yes Bank and Federal Bank, which have functional offices at the centre," GiftCity chief executive and managing director Ajay Pandey told PTI here.
When contacted, an Yes Bank official said the lender's IFSC branch has mopped up USD 400 million this fiscal year alone, but refused to share client details.

Apart from these two banks, other players include the nation's largest lender SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, LIC, New India Assurance, Sidbi and Reliance Capital which are in the process of launching their operations from the centre.
Out of these, Yes Bank, Federal Bank, IDBI Bank and IndusInd Bank have already received RBI approval to open banking units at the centre, Pandey said, adding both the bourses (BSE and NSE) and commodity exchanges like NCDEX and ICEX have signed agreements with the centre to set up international exchanges.

Leading non-financial services players who have taken space include Oracle, Tata Communications, IL&FS, Prestige Group, taking the total numbers of its clients to over 50, he said adding the World Trade Centre is also a prized tenant.

While SBI has taken a space of 0.4 million sqft, LIC has taken 0.2 million sqft, taking the total alloted space to close to 1 million sqft.
According to a McKinsey estimate, the IFSC can add USD 425 billion to the GDP by 2020 - USD 250 billion by financial services players, USD 120 billion by financial services focused IT sector, BPOs around UDS 35 billion and capital market trading can add another USD 10 billion.

It can also create around 6 lakh new direct and indirect jobs by 2020, Pandey said.
The IFSC, a joint venture between Gujarat Urban Development Corporation and IL&FS, was formally launched by finance minister Arun Jaitley in April 2015.
Of the 886 acres allotted to GiftCity, about 250 acres
are for the IFSC which will be treated like a special economic zone. IFSC-like centres are operating in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
According to estimates, in the absence of an IFSCs, the country has lost around 50 per cent market share in the rupee-dollar futures contracts traded on the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange and the Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange.

It is estimated that Rs 1,400 crore per day, or Rs two trillion per year, of trades in rupee derivatives is taking place in locations outside the country, according to a February concept note prepared by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy for the finance ministry.
In March, markets regulator Sebi approved guidelines for IFSCs that would allow domestic and foreign exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories to set up subsidiaries to undertake their business in such centres.
Also, reinsurance business worth Rs 7,300 crore is currently going outside the country, but can now come to IFSC, according to Irda chairman TS Vijayan.

IFSCs are seen as a significant contributor to GDP.