IFSC can be gateway for international business, provide financial services: Expert committee

The International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) can become a gateway for international business and provide a comprehensive range of financial services to Indian diaspora and others, according to a report by an expert committee constituted by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
The IFSCA committee submitted its interim report on development of international retail business in the IFSC which focused on the banking sector, a release said on Monday.
The committee’s subsequent reports will address other key verticals such as insurance, asset management and capital markets, it added.

On August 3, the Injeti Srinivas-led IFSCA set up a panel of industry experts, chaired by Pradip Shah, chairman at Indasia Fund Advisors, to draw up a plan to develop international retail business at the IFSC.

The members of the committee included G Srinivasan, former CMD of New India Assurance, Siddhartha Sengupta, former DMD of State Bank of India, Shyamal Mukherjee, chairman at PwC, Prakash Subramanian, head – strategy, Standard Chartered Bank, Dipesh Shah, head, GIFT IFSC and Nitin Jaiswal, head of government affairs and strategic relations, Bloomberg Singapore.

The government envisages the IFSC as a global hub for international financial services on the lines of London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.

“Our vision is to establish GIFT IFSC as a dominant gateway for global financial flows into and out of India, and simultaneously emerge as a major global financial hub,” Srinivas said.