The GIFT City is ideally poised to be the gateway for financial and investment hub and has an important role to play in fulfilling the vision for India to become developed nation by 2047, said Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman while addressing the seminar ‘GIFT City-An Aspiration of Modern India’, organised as part of the 10^th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, at Gandhinagar today.

The Union Finance Minister said Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had conceptualised the idea of GIFT City way back in 2007 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and it has now expanded into becoming a major international financial hub.

Spelling out the vision of the Prime Minister in terms of green technology, Smt. Sitharaman said GIFT City should look at being a platform for green credits. It should also aim to build diverse fintech laboratory to achieve the target of India’s economy becoming $30 trillion by 2047, the Union Finance Minister added.

Listing out the growing presence of operations at International Financial Services Centres (IFSC), Smt. Sitharaman said there are now 3 exchanges including International Bullion Exchange, 25 banks, including 9 foreign banks, 26 aircraft lesser, 80 fund managers, 50 professional service providers and 40 fintech entities in the GIFT City.

The Union Finance Minister further said India should aim to become manufacturing hub for shipping and there are 8 ship leasing entities working in IFSC that would enable access to global finance. Retail participation in stock markets in India is another distinct feature of the financial sector reforms initiated by the government, Smt. Sitharaman added.

Describing GIFT City as a fusion of technology and financial world, the Union Finance Minister said there is a need to infuse the advantages of technology into financial services and GIFT City is designed to provide advantages to India’s entrepreneurs in accessing global finance. Smt. Sitharaman said most of the global financial hubs earlier looked at capital only but the GIFT City has the distinction of getting financial services infused with technology.

The Union Finance Minister said India is now driving the growth engine of the world and it can become the bridge between the developed Western world and the Global South and as India continues onwards to the path of financial prominence on the global stage, the people of India want to become innovators and entrepreneurs, and added that GIFT City can help in realising these aspirations.

The inaugural session of the seminar was attended by Shri Kanubhai Desai, Finance Minister of the Government of Gujarat, Shri Hasmukh Adhia, Chairman, GIFT City, Shri K. Rajaraman, Chairman, IFSCA, and Shri Tapan Ray, MD & CEO, GIFT City.

GIFT City as International Financial Services Centre enabling fintech, green credits and global finance access for entrepreneurs and investors. GIFT City is positioned as an International Financial Services Centre platform to advance India's 2047 development vision by combining financial services and technology to facilitate access to global capital. The initiative emphasizes fintech laboratories, a platform for green credits, and specialised market infrastructure-exchanges, banks, fund managers, aircraft and ship lessors, professional service providers, and fintech firms-to promote international leasing, fund management, retail market participation, and entrepreneurial access to global finance.