At GIFT IFSC, investment promises and money received appear in separate columns. The regulator’s March 2025 fund-management statistics recorded about $15.74 billion in cumulative commitments, against about $7.96 billion actually raised. That gap is an ordinary feature of funds drawing capital over time, but it matters when describing the size of India’s international financial centre. [5]
The figures also establish that GIFT has moved beyond a proposal. Fund managers, banks and market institutions conduct business there within a special regulatory framework. The centre’s growth can be traced through that activity, rather than inferred from towers built or announcements made.
A Gujarat project, then an international centre
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City began as a state-led city project before the 2014 change of government. At the India International Exchange opening in January 2017, Modi traced its origins to 2007, when he was Gujarat’s chief minister. The aim was to let financial businesses operate from India with facilities comparable to overseas centres. [2]
The IFSC began business in April 2015, according to the NCAER account hosted by its regulator. The distinction between the city and the financial centre remains important: GIFT includes a domestic-tariff area as well as the special-economic-zone area containing the IFSC. A company’s presence in the wider city does not automatically make it an IFSC institution. [3] [1]
The 2017 exchange opening added a market platform. Its ambitions included bringing trading and financial expertise associated with Indian business back from offshore locations. Those were objectives, rather than proof that India had already displaced established international hubs. [2]
A single regulator
IFSCA was established on 27 April 2020 under legislation passed in 2019. Its role brought together functions previously divided among banking, securities, insurance and pension regulators within the IFSC. The institutional change gave businesses one authority covering a range of financial products and services. [4]
By February 2026, IFSCA reported more than 1,100 registrations across categories including banking units, fund managers, finance companies and payment providers. That is a count of regulated registrations, rather than a measure of unique office buildings, employees or new productive investment. [6]
Counting financial activity
The March 2025 fund statistics identified 162 fund-management entities and 229 schemes, excluding in-principle approvals from the entity count. Their roughly $7.96 billion raised was real funding activity; the larger commitments total included capital not yet drawn. These figures are a dated snapshot, not the latest balance of every business in GIFT. [5]
The centre’s infrastructure has also developed. IFSCA’s February 2026 account described a foreign-currency settlement system launched in October 2025, allowing dollar obligations between participating IFSC banks to settle quickly. Expansion to more participants and currencies was still under consideration. [6]
The operating market is now visible in institutions, funds and settlement arrangements. Its next stage will be recorded in business conducted through them—and in how much of the capital promised is ultimately put to work. [5] [6]