An Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) established by an Indian financial services firm has become the 200th fund to receive approval in GIFT City, Gujarat. This marks a significant milestone as the city now hosts 13 AIFs that have transitioned from various foreign jurisdictions, including Singapore, Mauritius, and Dubai.
"Motilal Oswal’s Fund of Fund has received registration as the 200th fund in GIFT IFSC. We granted approval for this fund on December 23," said K. Rajaraman, chairperson of the International Financial Centres Authority (IFSCA), in a statement to Businessline. He noted that it is a private equity fund set to invest in other funds based in India.
To date, IFSCA has registered 141 Fund Management Entities, which have successfully launched a remarkable 200 schemes targeting a cumulative corpus of $45 billion from the IFSC. “So far, 13 funds with commitments exceeding $2.87 billion have transitioned from various jurisdictions, predominantly Singapore, Mauritius, and Dubai,” Rajaraman explained. This includes seven funds from Singapore with almost $2.3 billion in commitments, five funds from Mauritius with commitments amounting to $554 million, and one fund from Dubai with a commitment of $20 million, all having redomiciled to India.
By December 2024, these funds in IFSC raised commitments totaling $12 billion and have invested $4.61 billion across India and other countries. The IFSCA reported that over 2004 investors from 58 jurisdictions have invested in the AIFs. Additionally, more than 100 investors have joined Portfolio Management Schemes (PMS) managed by Fund Management Entities within IFSC.
Chairperson Rajaraman also mentioned that the authority is actively working to reduce financing costs in GIFT City. “We recently made amendments to our fund regulations. The cost of financing encompasses multiple layers, including capital cost, regulatory expenses, country risk, and customer risk. Our goal is to minimize regulatory risks, particularly those that create uncertainty and inflate operational costs, leading to market inefficiency. We aim to enhance competition and simplify regulations,” Rajaraman said.
This initiative aligns with the unified regulator’s broader strategy to motivate financial institutions in GIFT City to provide capital and diverse financial services to Indian companies at globally competitive rates, the official elaborated.
