GIFT City gears up for direct listings, re-insurance
The first phase followed the creation in 2020 of a new regulator, the International Financial Services Authority, which outlined an ambition to create a welcoming place where India-centric trading that’s moved to Dubai, Mauritius or Singapore can return home.
K Rajaraman, who took charge as chairman of the IFSCA in August, spoke with Bloomberg News about the outlook for GIFT City. The interview is lightly edited for clarity:
How has GIFT developed since the creation of the IFSCA?
GIFT City started in 2007 as a completely greenfield experiment when PM Modi was the chief minister of the state of Gujarat. In 2020 the government created the IFSCA as a unified regulator.
It has issued more than 30 regulations for industries including aircraft leasing, ship leasing. In the financial domain we have banks, funds, capital markets and insurance.
The number of licensed/registered entities has grown to more than 550 in September 2023 versus 129 in the same month of 2020. We have more than 25 banks, up from 13 in 2020.
We have two international stock exchanges offering 20-plus hours of trading in various product categories including index, stock, currency and commodity derivatives.
What does it indicate for the debt market?
Cumulative debt listing at GIFT IFSC stock exchanges was at $52.7 billion as on Sept. 30, 2023. Out of which $10.18 billion of debt listing was related to environment, social and governance bonds.
