Cabinet approves establishment of unified regulator for IFSCs

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the establishment of a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India.

According to an official release, the unified regulatory authority will be established through International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019. The first IFSC in India was set up at 'GIFT City' in Gandhinagar.

It said that as currently the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSCs are regulated by multiple regulators like the RBI, the SEBI and the IRDAI, hence the need for having a unified financial regulator had emerged.

The new authority will be able to exercise all powers exercisable by financial sector regulators such as the RBI, the SEBI, the IRDAI, and the PFRDA in the IFSCs "in so far as the regulation of financial products, financial services and FIs that are permitted in the IFSC are concerned".

The draft bill which takes into the account the regulatory requirements of IFSCs and the provisions of the existing financial sector laws has been prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), it said.

As per the bill, the authority will consist of a Chairperson and one member each will be nominated by the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and the PFRDA, two members by the central government and there will be two other full-time or part-time members.

--IANS

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