In a push to GIFT City, the government on Monday included book-keeping, accounting, taxation, and financial crime compliance services as 'financial services' to be offered in the International Financial Service Centre (IFSC).
With the inclusion, entities registered with the IFSC Authority will be able to provide these services to non-residents while operating from GIFT City.
Industry experts said the move is to promote GIFT City as a global hub for accounting and taxation services.
However, it has been clarified that non-residents whose business is set up by reconstructing, re-organising, or splitting up of a business already existing in India will be excluded.
“Provided further that the units shall not offer the services by way of transferring or receiving existing contracts or work arrangements from their group entities in India,” stated the notification.
At present, banking, insurance, reinsurance, aircraft leasing, ship leasing, asset management, capital market through the stock exchanges, and information technology are a few of the services operational at the IFSC. Entities at IFSC enjoy certain taxation benefits and several other regulatory relaxations.
As of March 2023, there were 20 IFSC banking units (IBUs) operational at GIFT City with a total outstanding asset of $38 billion. There were a total of 46 fund management entities in the maiden IFSC, while 50 schemes of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) raised commitments worth $13 billion.