Modi's Pet Project to GIFT 10 Lakh Jobs

GIFT, which is being developed by the Gujarat government, aspires to cater to India's large financial services potential by offering global firms world-class infrastructure and facilities.

"It is a pet project of Narendra Modi. He was monitoring it personally when he was the Chief Minister. What we are doing is that we are implementing his brainchild. New Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has also been a part of the project," GIFT managing director and group CEO Ramakant Jha told PTI in an interview.

"If you take the job potential in expanding economy of the country, on a pan-India basis about 10 lakh jobs can be created."

The Rs. 65,000-crore project is being developed on the lines of global financial services centres, spread over three phases of development to be completed by 2022.

GIFT has two components of development - domestic financial centre and international financial services centre.

It is being developed on 886 acres of land, of which 673 acres is in possession of GIFT. It has a multi-services Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of 250 acres and domestic finance centre and associated social infrastructure on 423 acres.

The state-of-the-art GIFT project will be supported by all basic urban infrastructure comprising external connectivity by roads, metro and BRTS, Mr Jha said.

GIFT is conceptualised as a global financial and IT services hub on the lines of globally benchmarked financial centres such as Shinjuku, Tokyo, Lujiazui, Shanghai, La Defense, Paris, and London Dockyards, he added.

The project is located on the bank of Sabarmati river and is around 12 km from Ahmedabad International Airport.

Mr Jha said many banks and IT companies have already established their offices there.

The Gujarat government is developing GIFT through a joint venture between its undertaking Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd (GUDCL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).