Skip to main content

A revdi-funded dream? Tax breaks, hype, unease: PwC reveals GIFT City’s fragile foundations

By Rajiv Shah 
Backed by generous subsidies (or so-called "revdis") channeled to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship project, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report claims it is “uniquely positioned to connect India to international markets and foster next-generation FinTech and IT innovation.” 
Titled Moving the Needle on Gujarat’s GIFT City, authors Gayathri Parthasarathy and Amitabh Mukherjee explore “what it will take for GIFT City to surpass established global hubs and emerge as a leading international financial center.” They argue strongly for this politically supported initiative, highlighting its “world-class infrastructure and seamless connectivity.” 
The report describes GIFT City as “India’s first operational smart city,” hosting the country’s “first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).” It projects that within a decade, GIFT City will become a vibrant financial ecosystem, housing 32 banks, over 150 capital market intermediaries, 47 insurance and reinsurance firms, 32 FinTech and TechFin entities, over 250 alternative investment funds, and more than 30 aircraft/ship lessors and bullion market traders. 
To demonstrate GIFT City’s growing appeal to global businesses and investors, the report cites its 46th ranking on the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) in March 2025, a notable improvement from previous years. It also ranks fifth among 15 emerging centers expected to gain prominence in the next two years and leads the reputation index among them. In May 2025, GIFT Nifty recorded a monthly turnover of USD 102.35 billion, signaling strong global investor confidence. However, the PwC survey underpinning the report reveals a contrasting perspective.
Despite claims that GIFT City is “increasingly seen as a strategic base for multinational corporations” and poised to drive FinTech and IT innovation, stakeholder interviews conducted across GIFT City, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Mumbai from April to June 2025 tell a different story. About 51% of respondents believe GIFT City lacks “very high growth potential” as a financial services hub. Additionally, 60% doubt it will become a “leading international business and financial hub within five to ten years,” with only 40% optimistic about its long-term prospects. Moreover, 80% do not expect it to evolve into a niche hub for finance, FinTech, and technology.
While 77% of senior executives acknowledge talent availability in GIFT City, they note a “gap in specialized expertise, especially in key industries.” Only 17% believe ample talent exists across key sectors, while 34% describe talent as limited, 26% report moderate availability, and 23% highlight a shortage of skilled professionals. Furthermore, 54% of senior executives cite ecosystem maturity as a key limitation, with 62% pointing to challenges in attracting experienced professionals due to relocation issues. Another 46% note the absence of a robust talent pool as a drawback.
Senior executives are hesitant to relocate to GIFT City, with 63% citing limited personal and professional networks. HR departments observe that freshers are more open to relocation, while professionals with 8–15 years of experience are less willing. HR executives from financial services firms in GIFT City report high attrition rates in Global Capability Centres, ranging from 30–40%, compared to 10–20% in metro cities, indicating weak talent retention and workforce stability.
The survey also reveals that while students and freshers show high relocation willingness, this declines among experienced professionals. Compensation in GIFT City is 10–15% lower than in major metropolitan areas, with few competitive salary packages or clear career advancement pathways offered. Gujarat’s TechFin talent pool ranks seventh in India, and Ahmedabad, the state’s largest talent hub, ranks eighth among Indian cities. The report concedes that GIFT City has yet to match the maturity of India’s traditional financial hubs.
Among optimists, 78% of working professionals see “strong potential” in GIFT City, citing regulatory benefits, tax incentives, and a business-friendly environment tailored for financial institutions. These include no Goods and Services Tax on procurement, a 10-year tax holiday within a 15-year window for income-tax exemptions, exemptions from Minimum Alternate Tax for companies opting for reduced tax rates, interest income exemptions, concessional tax rates on dividend income for non-residents, and no reverse charge GST on imported services.
Based on 200 respondents, including mid-to-top-level executives, recruitment specialists, working professionals, undergraduate students, and educational institutions, the report acknowledges that 66% of senior executives view GIFT City as a potential business hub, primarily due to its tax incentives, which are seen as a key driver for business expansion.

Comments

Anonymous said…
"Singapore transformed into a major financial hub over roughly 30 to 40 years following its independence in 1965." https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-years-it-took-for-sin-R1bk67SDTuKuQa_Fzb4HMw#0
October 07, 2025
krishna said…
Well gift city was started in 2005, it's been 20 years so where are we or you want to give another 30 years and you think executives will move to Ahmedabad suburbs when they can get jobs in Chennai, Hyderabad, noida, mumbai, Kolkata or maybe even Singapore. It was all optics from the beginning like viksit bharat is slated for 2047, how convinient.
November 04, 2025
Post a Comment

TRENDING

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan   M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
Post a Comment
»

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah  A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.
Post a Comment
»

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan   Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.
Post a Comment
»

Ecologist Dr. S. Faizi urges UN intervention to save 35 million Gulf migrants

By A Representative   Renowned ecologist and veteran United Nations negotiator Dr. S. Faizi has issued an urgent appeal to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for immediate diplomatic intervention to halt escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf. In a formal letter copied to several UN missions, Faizi warned that the lives and livelihoods of 35 million migrant workers—who comprise the vast majority of the population in many Gulf cities—are facing an unprecedented existential crisis.
Post a Comment
»