Mumbai IFSC and GIFT City can co-exist, says Fadnavis

Mumbai: Asserting that the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in the city will be feasible,Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the planned centre in BKC can co-exist with the already notified GIFT City in Ahmedabad by partnering with it.

Speaking a day after the task force on IFSC held its second meeting, Fadnavis said it has been decided to partner with GIFT given the financial capital's limitations and work in a "hub and spoke" model.

"GIFT and Mumbai can co-exist. Mumbai has a problem of area, so in Mumbai you can develop an IFSC say in 50 acres.But, if you want to scale it up, you have to locate it elsewhere.

So, the hub and spoke model can be there. Mumbai has inherent strength which nobody can take away."If an IFSC is developed elsewhere, lets say a GIFT centre is developed, then both can compliment each other, both can co-exist and I think both can grow," he added.

"I think feasibility is not a problem," Fadnavis asserted, pointing out that even though it is not notified as an IFSC formally, Mumbai is recognised as the country's top financial services centre by global rating agencies.

He said ICICI Bank's MD and Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar made a presentation before the meeting chaired by Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, which impressed the strengths of Mumbai as a financial services arena as recognised by rating agencies.

Soon after coming to power, the Centre gave a go-ahead for an IFSC at the GIFT City in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat. The financial sector regulators chipped-in by making necessary amendments in the laws.

Even though located physically within the country, an IFSC operates like a truly international area, with separate set of laws. The financial activities are undertaken in international currencies and separate books are maintained.