India's tax-neutral city: Adani, Arcelor among firms setting up treasury operations in GIFT City

Mumbai: Gautam Adani's eponymous firm, telecom operator Bharti Airtel, US-based Genpact and autoparts giant ZF Friedrichshafen are among the companies setting up treasury operations in India's tax-neutral finance zone, according to three sources. They are set to join ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steelmaker, which has secured regulatory licenses to set up two treasury centres, according to public filings. The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, known as GIFT City, is being promoted by the Modi government as a financial centre to rival Singapore and Dubai. In February, the government extended the tax holiday for firms operating there to 20 years and regulations have also been eased. Seventeen corporate treasuries are likely to begin operations in GIFT City over the next three months, two of the three sources said, declining to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. Corporate treasury operations have traditionally been housed in places like Singapore and the Netherlands. Global treasury centres are hubs where multinational firms manage cash, funding, liquidity, foreign exchange and financial risks. Cheaper funding, lower taxes Access to cheaper funding, lower taxes on remitting dividends and excess cash to overseas units, along with being able to hold assets in dollars as the rupee weakens, are prompting firms to set up treasury centres in GIFT City, the three sources said. By onshoring this activity to GIFT City, India hopes to retain control and oversight of global financial flows associated with its companies. "Treasury centres at GIFT City are allowing firms to pool cash and borrow at a group level with greater flexibility and improving access to funds generated by their Indian businesses," said Suresh Swamy, a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Responding to a Reuters query, a spokesperson for Germany-based ZF Friedrichshafen said in an email it is exploring a GIFT City set-up and has yet to apply for a license. MasterPlan-map-updated Email queries to the other companies mentioned in this article did not yield any responses. The names of firms planning to set up operations in GIFT City have not been previously reported. Dipesh Shah, an executive director at the International Financial Services Centre Authority, a GIFT City regulator, said "the rise of treasury centres at GIFT marks a structural shift in how India-linked corporates manage global capital." He declined to comment on individual companies setting up treasury operations at the tax hub. Regulatory push Activity has picked up sharply since January, with seven companies securing regulatory licences and another 17 at different stages of approval, sources said. Much of the recent surge is attributable to regulatory changes from April 2025, according to two of the sources. "The interest from foreign multinational companies has been beyond our expectations," said a senior regulatory official at GIFT City who requested anonymity as they are not authorised to talk to the media. A key change that was made allows banks to pay interest on current account balances - a practice not allowed by the Reserve Bank of India for onshore lenders, the sources said. Just one foreign bank has started this so far, two of the three sources said. ArcelorMittal - an early entrant - plans to undertake cash pooling activities for its India entities via GIFT City, according to the sources, similar to what it does via its treasury centre in Paris through an entity called ArcelorMittal Treasury.