Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has handed over the letter of allotment to Ashish Bhalla, Managing Director, WTC Noida Development Company Pvt. Ltd and Eric Dahl, CEO, World Trade Centre Associations, USA for development of the World Trade Centre in Gift City, during the National Summit “Financial Services – A key driver for economic growth” held recently in the state. The agency received license for development of World Trade Centre in GIFT City from WTCA, USA in December, 2013.
The chief minister has also handed over letter of allotment for various projects like SBI Commercial Tower, Tier IV Data Centre, Skill Development & Training Centre and an Outsourcing Centre for foreign markets. The summit, organised by Gujarat government in association with Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Indian Merchant Chambers and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, was attended by industry leaders and senior government officials.
As India’s financial and capital markets have acquired greater depth and size, India needs well planned global financial hubs for serving both domestic and international clients. Such a hub needs pragmatic institutional framework with policies and rules. Gujarat has taken an initiative to develop a state of the art global financial hub at GIFT City with ultra modern infrastructure.
GIFT is rapidly emerging as a favored destination for setting up operations of various financial institutions. Out of planned development of 13 million sq. ft. of BUA in phase-I, around 10 million sq. ft. of BUA has already been allotted for commercial, residential and social facilities.
The World Trade Centre in GIFT City would be set up at an estimated investment of Rs.600 crore spanning over 1 million sq.ft. of BUA. It would be a hub for export oriented, financial and allied services which would cover all major cities of Gujarat through Hub & Spoke model. It would also connect businesses around 343 locations worldwide and provide great impetus to the state’s economic activities.
Ashish Bhalla, Managing Director, WTC Noida Development Company Pvt. Ltd, said, “WTC at Gift City will be dedicated for financial and allied services and host various services offered by WTCA to the corporate houses and would also promote SMEs and large corporates. It would provide easy access to buyers and suppliers and provide export related services at its centre which would reduce the time and cost for exporters.”
Other than the World Centre, State Bank of India would set up a commercial tower at a cost of Rs.150 crore. The other facilities to come up in Gift City are Tier IV Data Centre to be set up by Tata Communications Ltd, a consortium of Smart ICT Services Pvt. Ltd; Skill Development & Training Centre by Global Insurance Services (India) Pvt. Ltd at an estimated investment of Rs.100 crore and iPlex in GIFT SEZ.
