Corpzo India

Over the past few months, there has been a flurry of developments involving the Gujarat Internal Finance Tech-City (“GIFT City”). New guidelines are being issued and MOUs executed with financial institutions on a weekly basis, all with the aim of incentivizing overseas financial institutions and overseas branches /subsidiaries of Indian financial institutions to bring to Indian shores those financial services transactions that are currently carried on outside India. The underlying key to this incentivization is the International Finances Services Centre (“IFSC”) which is set up in the special economic zone (“SEZ”) within GIFT City. While the IFSC is physically on Indian territory, it is treated as an offshore jurisdiction for foreign exchange reasons, allowing investors to engage in IFSC firms without having to comply with India's foreign exchange regulations. To encourage foreign investment and bring the IFSC in GIFT City up to par with IFSCs across the world, special tax advantages have been offered to units located within the IFSC.