India: Gift City Regulator Targets International Retail Business

Source: Regulation Asia Duruthu E Chandrasekera, Regulation Asia 2020-08-11

A new panel has been appointed to provide recommendations on attracting international retail business to Gift City, India’s international financial services centre.

The IFSCA (International Financial Services Centre Authority) has reportedly appointed a committee to formulate a plan for attracting international retail business to Gift City.

The IFSCA, established in April this year, is a unified authority to regulate all financial services in international financial services centres in India, headquartered in Gift City.

The new panel is given three months to submit its recommendations to the IFSCA on drawing international retail business to Gift City, and to provide possible strategies for making it more attractive for international financial services.

The committees also have free reign to examine other issues not specifically mentioned in the terms of reference and make recommendations, an IFSCA statement said.

Gift City is also looking to attract foreign businesses that are looking to reduce reliance on China and firms that may be looking to relocate away from Hong Kong.

The IFSCA also has plans to launch new products at Gift City, introduce measures to facilitate retail participation from non-resident Indian (NRI) clients, and introduce a one-stop local dollar clearing mechanism.

It also plans to extend the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) for derivatives trading and margin payments. Currently the scheme allows resident individuals to freely remit funds up to USD 250,000 outside India in a financial year.

The IFSCA also seeks to remove requirements for foreign firms to set up a new entity at Gift City to participate in trading. Current requirements are aimed at ring-fencing domestic exchange trading from trading at Gift City.

IFSC

India: Gift City Regulator Targets International Retail Business

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