IFSC at GIFT City begins operations with Yes Bank unit launch

Four more banks - SBI, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal Bank - have received final approval from the RBI and are going to commence operations shortly at GIFT

India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City in Gujarat began operations today with the launch of Yes Bank's unit.

Four more banks - State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal Bank - have received final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and are going to commence operations shortly at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

More than 15 financial Institutions have been allocated space in GIFT IFSC.

"IFSC at GIFT becomes operational as the country's first IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) set up by Yes Bank," GIFT said in a statement.

The IFSC at GIFT is attracting a lot of interest from the BFSI sector in India, especially from banks, insurance companies and other financial services players who want to tap the global markets.
 
IFSC's banking unit allows an Indian bank to deliver a complete range of products to its clients with foreign currency funding requirements.

IBU will also be able to meet the funding requirements of overseas entities which may be joint ventures or subsidiaries of its domestic clients or part of the value chain of its existing customers, GIFT said in a statement.

"Operations at the country's first IFSC have started with Yes Bank's IBU first to take off. Setting up of IFSC in India has been the vision of Prime Minister of India, as this would be a major game changer for the financial services sector in India.

"The Finance Minister in his budget speech 2015 had indicated that GIFT SEZ-IFSC would be soon operationalised with the issuance of operating guidelines by RBI, SEBI and IRDA and this is now happening," it added.