Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will put India on the global capital markets map with the inauguration of the country’s first International Exchange being set up by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at India’s first International Financial Services Center (IFSC) in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) at Gandhinagar on January 9.

MD & Group CEO of GIFT Company Ltd., Mr. Ajay Pandey, today said that with several leading banks as well as an insurance companies already operating out of GIFT IFSC, the last missing link of a stock exchange too will get fulfilled now to make this a complete global financial hub. After BSE, the other major capital market player, National Stock Exchange (NSE), is also going to open its International Exchange at GIFT IFSC in the near future.

The upcoming 8th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 will host a special session on the ‘Business Potential of IFSC in India’ on January 11. This session will not only explore the range of financial services available for domestic and global players, but will also showcase India’s emergence as the next global financial hub. In a year’s time, GIFT IFSC has already crossed business transactions worth over US$ 1.5 billion and is fast emerging as a global financial hub on the lines of London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York in coming years, he said.

“As Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is about connecting India to the world, it gives us immense pleasure to showcase the IFSC potential of India this year. Our objective is to engage prospective investors and inform them about business opportunities in banking, insurance and capital markets in an IFSC based in India.” added Mr. Pandey.
The Plenary Session of the seminar on will be addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State Finance, Corporate Affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Urjit Patel and Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat who holds the charge of finance department as well, Nitin Patel.

A session on ‘Business Potential for Capital Market in IFSC’ will include reputed speakers like MD & CEO of BSE – Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of NSE – Mr. J. Ravichandran, MD & CEO of MCX – Mr. Mrugank Paranjpe, Senior MD of Chicago Mercantile Exchange – Mr. William Knottenbelt and CEO of Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange – Mr. Gaurang Desai and Mr. SV Murali Dhar Rao – Executive Director at SEBI.

The Banking & Insurance session will have senior speakers from foreign and Indian Banks as well as from leading Insurance companies.

“Our honorable Prime Minister and the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi, had the vision of setting up a global financial centre in India in the league of leading international financial centres such as London, Hong Kong, Singapore & New York nearly a decade back. It is indeed a proud moment for us to see his dream project of GIFT IFSC taking off in full swing now. After the opening of banking and insurance units at GIFT IFSC, the opening of India’s first International Exchange is another big leap forward for this project as it marks the operationalization of the third vertical ‘Capital Market’, Mr Pandey said.

India is one of the largest countries in the world and one of the major users of global financial services. However, only recently in April 2015, India announced development of IFSC. Considering the global market being actively connected through technology, it is inevitable for India to step into the map of global Financial Centres and mark its presence by setting up a successful IFSC in India. In the absence of IFSC in India, it is estimated that India has been losing US $ 50 billion per year (2015), which will grow to US $ 120 billion by 2025.

GIFT a Government of Gujarat Project in partnership with IL&FS is developing India’s First Global Financial Hub. GIFT is India’s first multi-service SEZ with IFSC status which is catering to India’s large financial services market by offering global firms, world-class infrastructure and facilities. It is attracting the top talent in the country by providing the finest quality of life. It is estimated that GIFT would provide 5,00,000 direct and an equal number of indirect jobs which would require 62 million square feet of office and residential space. Like other leading global financial centres, GIFT will target a 6-8% share of the financial services potential in India.