GIFT City's aircraft leasing business struggles amid confusing rules

Despite generous tax breaks, opaque and confusing rules have companies struggling to get off the ground

In a little over two years after the Union Budget made aircraft leasing from Guj­arat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) eligible for massive tax breaks, the business seems to have barely taken off. In 2021, the first plane was leased by JetSetGo, one of the several aircraft leasing companies that set up shop at GIFT. 

No other aircraft, except a chopper, has been leased to date. Even the state-owned Pawan Hans, which leased six choppers from Lockheed Martin’s subsidiary Sikorsky at the recently concluded Wings India 2022 at Hyderabad, decided to do so from an Ireland-based aircraft leasing firm. Ironically, the