Alternative Investment Funds will give a fillip to business growth at GIFT IFSC, Gandhinagar
AHMEDABAD, 30 NOVEMBER 2018: Making India a global economic powerhouse requires a platform which provides the Indian BFSI sector with a level playing field to compete on the global markets with international players. The India’s first designated International Finance Services Centre (IFSC) ‘Hiranandani Signature’ was developed by Hiranandani Communities at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This is the World’s 8th IFSC followed by Dubai, Singapore, London and among others.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, Chairman and Managing Director of Hiranandani Communities said, “GIFT IFSC is a ‘work in progress’ story, it needs to actually be working on par with international IFSCs.Over the years, we have seen a lot of potential getting transformed into reality which now needs to be done at a faster pace. A detailed guidelines by the markets regulator SEBI on AIFs is a step in the right direction which will help to generate more employment and effectively make business operational on a larger scale.”
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has issued new norms, which combine foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign portfolio investor (FPI) and foreign venture capital investor (FVCI) regimes for investors from abroad. The new framework will allow Indian managers to directly sponsor and manage offshore Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) set up at GIFT IFSC. These could potentially be an India managed platform where a single pool of capital is raised from global investors including Indian residents and invested globally.
The new guidelines for AIFs will not only provide an impetus but also thrust by elevating GIFT IFSC with world class infrastructure, connectivity, people and technology on a single platform for businesses across the world.
According to media reports, fund managers managing foreign investors’ money would benefit from incentives granted to units operating in GIFT IFSC in the form of no GST and reduced income tax on management fees earned by them. This constitutes significant encouragement to bring offshore funds managed by Indian fund managers onshore in GIFT City. Moreover, the report suggests that a fourth of India-focused funds based in Singapore and Mauritius could potentially migrate to the GIFT IFSC.
Recently, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Vijay Rupani conducted a roadshow in Mumbai, to invite businessmen and corporates to participate in Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019. On the sideline of the roadshow, topics relevant to economic development and business growth in Gujarat, some with national ramifications and others with global impact were discussed. While addressing the roadshow, he showed interest to take more effective steps and efforts to enhance its operations to grow quantum of business generated at GIFT IFSC.
