'Confident that direct listing of companies in GIFT City will be enabled at the earliest,' says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Source: Business Today

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday expressed confidence that direct listing of companies in GIFT City will be enabled at the earliest and also announced that the government plans to build a diverse fintech laboratory at GIFT City and hopes to use it as a platform for trading of green credits.

“The much awaited matter of direct listing of stocks in GIFT IFSC was announced earlier. We are going through the process in a very systematic manner and I am confident that it will happen at the earliest. With that Indian companies should be able to access global funds easily being listed in India,” she said at a session on GIFT City at the second day of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

 She also assured the Government of Gujarat as well as the International Financial Services Centres Authority of full support and cooperation from the Ministry of Finance.

She further noted that GIFT City in Gandhinagar is a threshold which can open up India’s markets to financial world outside and give advantage to Indian entrepreneurs to access the global markets. “

All SEZs or financial hubs set up for financial purposes set up across the world looked at capital and investments as the main concern. It is the distinction of GIFT City, IFSC that it has looked at finance together with technology,” she further noted.

The finance minister also said that the government aims to build a diverse fintech laboratory for the world at GIFT City that would address several needs. “I will list three of them – Indian fintech firms wanting to go global should be here. Foreign fintech firms who want to go to gift IFSC will naturally have to be here. Indian fintech firms aiming to grow their Indian business or wanting to go for regulatory sandbox through which they can have a proof of concept should be here,” she said.

Underlining that India has a funding gap of $ 10.1 trillion to meet its net zero commitment by 2070, Sitharaman noted that there is a need to have a platform through which carbon credits can be sold and bought.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested that there should be a platform where green credits can be traded and that platform should be here in IFSC. I think the authorities here should work on getting a platform readies so that green credits can be sold for planting of trees and practices for green certification,” she said.

GIFT City is also working on blended finance and de-risking mechanisms, she said, adding that longevity finance is being explored and discussed by GIFT authorities which can open up opportunities in wealth management, insurance, pension, entrepreneurship and medical tourism.