GIFT City: Visitors walking through Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) often notice that not a single building has external air-conditioning units or cooling towers. Yet more than 1,000 financial and technology companies, employing nearly 30,000 people, operate here in fully air-conditioned offices.

Even the residential towers, where a portion of this workforce lives, function without any individual outdoor AC units. Homes, apartments, offices, banks, and fintech hubs are all cooled entirely through a centralized district cooling network.

How the cooling works

Instead of each building installing and running its own AC systems, chilled water is produced at a central District Cooling Plant and transported through the integrated utility tunnel — India’s first such tunnel system.

These underground pipelines deliver 5°C chilled water to each connected building, where a plate heat exchanger transfers the cooling into the building’s internal system. The warmed water then returns for re-cooling.

The utility tunnel also carries power cables and water lines, eliminating road digging and allowing GIFT City to function as a digging-free smart city.

Why the city chose this system

GIFT City’s centralized cooling offers several advantages:

• Up to 30% lower energy consumption than conventional AC units

• Reduced carbon emissions and lower urban heat island effect

• Zero outdoor units on offices or homes, preserving skyline aesthetics

• Lower operational and maintenance costs for companies and residents

• Quieter cooling, free from noise and vibration

• Uses recycled treated water, improving sustainability

The cooling system currently operates at 10,000 TR, scalable to 180,000 TR as the city expands.

Global examples

District cooling systems are used in several advanced global cities, including:

• Dubai, UAE – one of the world’s largest district cooling networks (Downtown, Business Bay, Palm Jumeirah)

• Singapore – Marina Bay district cooling plant serving commercial towers and hotels

• New York, USA – Con Edison’s steam and cooling system supporting major districts

• Doha, Qatar – The Pearl and West Bay districts

• Helsinki, Finland – Large-scale district heating and cooling networks

These systems offer high efficiency, lower emissions and better urban design — outcomes now reflected in GIFT City.

Are there other such systems in India?

GIFT City is India’s first and currently the only fully functional district cooling system at this scale.

While proposals exist for limited district cooling networks in Navi Mumbai, Amaravati, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, none match the integrated, city-wide model already operational in GIFT City. DeshGujarat