FPIs yet to find GIFT attractive

Long Way To Go

- ANANYA GROVER

THE GUJARAT INTERNATIONAL Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) has not been able to emerge as an attractive destination for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to route their money. Despite taxation benefits and incentives offered by the government and regulators, only 0.9% of the total 11,927 FPI registrations have taken place through GIFT.

According to NSDL data, 109 entities are registered on the GIFT Indian International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) since its launch in 2011. In comparison, the numbers of registered FPIs in Mauritius, Singapore and Luxembourg are 606, 642, and 1,454, respectively.

According to industry players, various challenges, including lack of adequate infrastructure and workforce, stability issues and operational hindrances, make the GIFT City relatively less attractive compared with jurisdictions like Mauritius, Singapore and Dubai.