The Big Take
India’s Free-Market Oasis Aims to Take On Singapore and Dubai
A finance hub rises in Gujarat.
Cattle graze by a new development in GIFT City
Photographer: Zishaan Akbar Latif for Bloomberg Markets
India’s newest financial hub is rising from scrubland near the banks of the Sabarmati River once dominated by marsh birds and grazing buffalo.
In the state of Gujarat, just a few glass-fronted towers greet the 20,000 employees of companies such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc who commute in each weekday. Its full name is Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, but it’s more commonly known as GIFT City. It occupies 886 acres between Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar, and Ahmedabad, its biggest city. As of October, bankers managed a combined $33 billion here.