🔴 Talking about how Vibrant Gujarat brand has transformed Gujarat into a “world-class state”, CM Bhupendra Patel said, “Vibrant Gujarat started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a brand.
Promoting Gujarat International Finance Tech-City or GIFT City before a group of investors and fintech firms gathered for a Vibrant Gujarat roadshow in Mumbai on Thursday, the state government said investments to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore have been committed by 140 firms in GIFT City.
Hard-selling the upcoming financial hub in Gujarat, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, while addressing the audience in Gujarati said, “I want to tell all the financial institutional investors, fintech firms and start-up units that till now if you have entered the GIFT City, then you should think in that direction positively. In GIFT City you will get world class infrastructure.”
Adding that the GIFT City in Gujarat houses the international bullion exchange, fintech firms, aircraft leasing and ship leasing business activities and international stock exchanges under one umbrella, Patel said, “People from across the world come to Gujarat to work and the state provides them the opportunities to progress in life.”
Talking about how Vibrant Gujarat brand has transformed Gujarat into a “world-class state”, Patel said, “Vibrant Gujarat started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a brand. Initially, discussions were on investments in Gujarat. Now apart from investments, discussions also take place about issues facing the world and their possible solutions.”
Gujarat Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar said GIFT City was poised to emerge as the one of the most preferred financial hubs in the world in the coming decade. “Investments worth Rs 11,000 crore from 140 companies have been committed to GIFT City. Moreover, the average daily turnover on international exchanges within GIFT City have exceeded USD 4 billion,” Kumar added.
The official said that six aircraft leasing firms have been given licences to operate from GIFT City and an additional seven entities have applied for licences. Apart from this, 30 Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs) have lined up to enter IFSC and the international bullion exchange is expected to start operations in January 2022.
The GIFT City project was conceptualised in 2007. However, the actual groundwork started in October 2011 and the first multi-storey structure was inaugurated by then chief minister Narendra Modi in January 2013. The flow of investments into the project began only after Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014.
Officials who participated in the roadshow also shared experiences of Bank of America and said the foreign entity hired 700 employees locally for their unit in GIFT City. This was the second Vibrant Gujarat roadshow, after the first one in Delhi on November 25.
After the roadshow, Patel also visited the BSE stock exchange. Earlier in the day, chief minister interacted with Mahesh Palashikar, president and CEO (South Asia) of General Electric and discussed about investment opportunities. He also met Ashok Hinduja, Chairman of Hinduja Group, Neeraj Akhoury, CEO of Ambuja Cements Ltd, Nikhil Meswani, executive director of Reliance Industries, Anant Goenka, MD of Ceat Limited, Uday Kotak, CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons and Ms Kaku Nakhate, President and Country Head of Bank of America.
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