IFSC in BKC is feasible, can co-exist with Ahmedabad’s Gift City: CM Devendra Fadnavis

Assuring that the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) is a feasible idea, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the proposed IFSC could co-exist with the Gift City of Ahmedabad in Gujarat by both partnering with each other.

“The state government has decided to go ahead adopting the ‘hub and spoke’ model where two developed financial centres can complement each other, both by co-existing will see growth,” said Mr Fadnavis.

‘Hub and spoke’ model is where there will be multiple locations sourcing, with a central location called the ‘hub’. The Hub will act as a single point of contact to the client and the ‘spoke’ will be spread around different locations of the IFSC.

“I think feasibility is not a problem,” Mr Fadnavis added, pointing out that even though the city is not notified as an IFSC formally, Mumbai is recognised as the country’s top financial services centre by global rating agencies. He said ICICI Bank’s MD and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar made a presentation on Thursday before the meeting chaired by Union minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, which impressed the strengths of Mumbai as a financial services arena as recognised by rating agencies.

In May 2015, Mr Fadnavis had revived the proposal for the IFSC, which has only been on paper for close to six years now. The CM had set up a committee headed by Union minister Mr Sinha for planning and preparation of legal framework and it consisted of, among others, the state’s chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development commissioner UPS Madan and BJP MP Poonam Mahajan as its chairman.