GIFT City

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is India's first greenfield smart city designed specifically as an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). Located on the banks of the Sabarmati near Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the city operates under India's only domestic IFSC tax regime — offering tax incentives equivalent to global financial centres like Singapore, Dubai, and Mumbai's BKC.

The project was sanctioned in 2007 by the Gujarat government (then under Chief Minister Narendra Modi) as part of his vision for Gujarat's financial-services emergence. Phase 1 (886 acres) was developed at ₹78,000 crore over 11 years, with operations beginning in 2018 after the IFSC tax framework was finalised by the Government of India.

GIFT City's distinguishing feature is its IFSC framework: financial institutions registered there can transact in foreign currency without normal Indian forex restrictions, are taxed at IFSC rates (significantly lower than mainland India), and operate under a separate regulatory framework (IFSC Authority). Major institutional presences include: SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda IFSC subsidiaries, plus international firms (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank).

The city's planned features include: GIFT One (a 28-storey commercial tower, India's tallest commercial building), GIFT Two (planned 122-storey supertall, would be India's tallest), GIFT Bullion Exchange (India's first), India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX, operational since 2022), and integrated metro connection (Phase 1 of Ahmedabad Metro extends to GIFT). Total planned floor space 62 million sqft.