How can family offices diversify their portfolio through GIFT city route

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Gujarat International Financial Tec-City (GIFT City), started in 2007, is India’s first International Financial Services Centre created to provide a facility as available in other countries. Key regulatory developments started in 2015 with RBI and Sebi notifying regulations for exchange control and capital markets up until the Budget 2023 that ended dual regulations, and bringing the IFSC rules on par with those in Singapore and Dubai.

The aim of Gift City is to facilitate a world-class financial services environment for international financial institutions and the overseas branches of local financial institutions. This should effectively help the development of Indian financial institutions and capital markets.

Foreign and local banks that open branches in Gift City will be treated as foreign branches of that bank. As of date 8 international banks, 14 Indian banks, 22 broker-dealers, two each of exchanges, depositories, and clearing corporation entities have been registered.

That apart, over 35 fund management companies, 4 insurance companies, and multiple lawyers and trustees have already been licensed at Gift City. The latest developments at Gift City have been around the regulations for the formation and functioning of Family Investment Funds (FIFs).

While UHNI families have been setting up family office structures in countries like Dubai, London, and Singapore, the FIF structure at Gift City helps set up a self-managed fund that can pool monies from individuals and from the corporate entities of these families in India with similar benefits. In addition to the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) limit of $250,000 per person per financial year, families can now remit up to 50% of the net worth of the ‘family-owned’