Bringing GIFT City to life by creating over 5000 jobs in the next couple of years and operationalising various services — including India’s first IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) — will be the key thrust areas for Ajay Pandey who recently took over as the new Group CEO of Gujarat International Finance Tech-City Company Limited.
“The time has come to focus towards job creation within the GIFT City campus. This is what the project was created for. Though there will be no major change in operations, and the project will continue to remain focussed towards creation of infrastructure; the major thrust will be to operationalise GIFT City. So among the key things that my team will be driving forth will to be to provide a strong push to all the projects for which development rights have been granted,” said Pandey in an exclusive interview to The Sunday Express after taking charge of the project at Gandhinagar.
In the Phase-I of the project, considered to be the pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, development rights for 14 million square feet within the GIFT City has been sold to various players.
“In the 45-odd days of assuming charge, some of the projects like the World Trade Centre, Hiranandani and business club have started, and in the next 60-160 days, five more projects will begin,” said Pandey whose core experience lies in the telecommunications sector.
Currently construction work has been started by The World Trade Centre for building 1.5 million square feet of commercial and residential spaces in the domestic area of project with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore and a promised employment generation for 6,000 people. Similarly, Hiranandani Group is building commercial buildings on 0.25 million square feet in the SEZ area with an investment of Rs 100 crore and promised employment for 2,500 people, while GIFT International Centre is building a business club on 0.16 million square feet with an investment of Rs 120 crore.
“The unique identity of the GIFT City comes from housing the country’s first IFSC (International Financial Services Centre). Within the next 30-45 days, about 2-3 banks will start their first IBUs. These banks have already taken up incubation space and will start operations in the SEZ area of the project,” said Pandey without naming the banks.
While Yes Bank, Federal Bank and IndusInd Bank have already got a nod from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start an IBU within GIFT City, other players from the banking sector who have expressed interest include Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDBI, Axis, SBI, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Corporation Bank and JP Morgan Chase & Co.
The “regulations and guidelines” for setting up the country’s first IFSC spread over an area of 260 acres within the GIFT City project campus located in Gandhinagar was unveiled by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at an event in Gandhinagar in April 2015.
Apart from the banks a number of firms have also shown interest in setting up international exchanges and start re-insurance related activities. In the Phase-I of the development of the project, GIFT City has attracted Rs 9,650 crore of investments.
