Global firms eye GIFT City for treasury base

Ahmedabad: As geopolitical tensions in West Asia unsettle global markets, Gujarat International Finance-Tec (GIFT) City is fast emerging as an alternate hub for corporate treasury operations. According to officials, GIFT City is being considered by 15+ global entities to set up treasury operations out of the country's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), reports Niyati Parikh.Treasury operations typically involve managing a company's cash, funding, hedging and cross-border financial flows from a centralised location. Traditionally anchored in hubs such as Singapore, Dubai, London and Hong Kong, global treasury centres are evincing growing interest in India's IFSC at GIFT City. The momentum has picked up over the past three months amid the escalation of the Middle East crisis, signalling how global corporations are rethinking capital and risk management, GIFT officials say.The IFSC recently hosted the senior leadership team of Evern Renewable Energy, backed by Brookfield Corporation, one of the world's largest alternative investment management firms with over $1 trillion in assets under management.Separately, GIFT City's outreach in Singapore saw interactions with global institutions across banking, investment, insurance and fintech, including Temasek, Enterprise Singapore, Goldman Sachs, DBS, BNP Paribas, Zurich Insurance, Keppel and Jungle Ventures. "Discussions focused on positioning GIFT City as a platform for international financial and technology services, including global capital flows, treasury operations, insurance and cross-border opportunities, while also strengthening collaboration in key markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong," officials said. "This comes at a time when geopolitical shifts have led to rising interest costs, fragmented liquidity and increasing regulatory complexity. Companies are increasingly exploring alternative locations that offer regulatory stability, cost efficiency and proximity to high-growth markets," said Sanjay Kaul, MD and Group CEO, GIFT City.A diverse mix of companies has already set up treasury entities at GIFT City, including ArcelorMittal, GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation, ONGC Videsh, ReNew Power and Welspun Group, among others."This growing base is complemented by a strong pipeline, with 15+ additional treasury entities, driven by continued interest from energy and infrastructure majors, global manufacturing groups, and new-age renewable energy companies," Kaul added.Industry sources said that the active pipeline spans a diverse set of global enterprises across sectors. These include an emerging healthcare platform backed by a cross-border joint venture between a Mauritius-based conglomerate and a European medical device firm; a North America-headquartered leader in networking and enterprise technology solutions; a global customer experience and business process outsourcing provider; a large telecom infrastructure company specialising in tower and network solutions in South Asia; and a digital transformation consulting firm focused on financial services.The interest also extends to a clean energy company in renewable power, a diversified natural resources and mining conglomerate, and a leading steel manufacturer that is part of a broader industrial group in South Asia—highlighting the cross-sectoral appeal of GIFT City as a treasury and financial operations base.The unified regulator, IFSCA offers a liberal foreign exchange regime, allowing firms to transact in multiple foreign currencies with full capital account convertibility. This enables seamless cross-border fund flows and centralised treasury functions such as liquidity management, hedging and global funding."Operating outside the direct applicability of FEMA provisions provides greater flexibility to units set up in GIFT-IFSC to undertake global treasury business. The 20-year income tax holiday, recently extended in the Union Budget, further strengthens its appeal as an international treasury hub. The level of serious inquiries has risen sharply amid global uncertainty," said Jaiman Patel, partner, Ernst & Young, GIFT City."As more firms establish operations, they will increasingly draw on banking, accounting and legal services within the IFSC, benefiting the broader ecosystem. With a growing roster of large corporates already present, GIFT City is clearly being taken far more seriously as a global treasury destination," he added.For Indian corporates, the IFSC offers a gateway to international financial markets without relocating treasury functions overseas. For multinationals, it provides a stable and cost-efficient base to manage regional operations.
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