Finance Minister announces clearance to 3 key projects worth Rs 500 crore for IFSCA

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman announced clearance to three key projects worth more than Rs 500 crore for International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in her visit to GIFT-City in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, informed the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.

The union minister leads a delegation including the two Ministers of State for Finance and Secretaries from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs to Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City, the release read.

The delegation engaged in discussions on matters of development and growth of India's maiden International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City in Gandhinagar.

The presentations covered all aspects of the journey of GIFT-IFSC with reference to the initial vision of Narendra Modi, how far things had come and the way forward to further elevate the stature of GIFT.

Thereafter, an open discussion was organized regarding growth opportunities in GIFT-IFSC in which the Finance Minister participated and emphasized the need to find solutions and move forward.

As per the release, Sithraman also announced during the event that the Department of Economic Affairs has just last week approved three key proposals of IFSCA.

The first was the proposal of Rs 200 crore for a Head Quarter Building for IFSCA which has Rs 100 crore as a grant in aid and the remaining Rs 100 crore as loan from the government.

The second was the proposal of Rs 269.05 crores for the development of IT infrastructure of IFSCA and the third was the IFSCA FinTech Scheme of Rs 45.75 crore.

The Finance Minister said that "it is the government of India's endeavour to make India a global financial gateway through GIFT-IFSC at GIFT City."

The bullion exchange is expected to come into play soon for which all the necessary infrastructure inclusive of safe vault facilities are built and are operational and indicated that Bullion exchange will be a big game-changer for India, Sitharaman said.

According to the Minister of Finance, Sitharaman exhorted officials to look at various ways in which more companies can get listed at GIFT IFSC, more transactions can happen here, more funds can be raised from here by companies, and how the bond market activities at GIFT IFSC can be improved, deepened and widened.

The Finance Minister also suggested that there is a need for interaction with leading start-ups dealing with FinTech and other activities which are present in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram and other locations.

Sitharaman also urged the Government of Gujarat to explore options on facilitating leading start-ups to locate outside the IFSC but within the GIFT City so that the ecosystem which is necessary for a global financial hub can be created.

( With inputs from ANI )