GIFT City seeks to boost FDI, spur bullion trades

MUMBAI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet financial infrastructure project GIFT City is setting up an international logistics park, paving the way for foreign investments that would underpin spot bullion trades. Facilities for the custody of high-value goods - fine arts, electronics, auto parts, and medical devices - have also been planned.“The proposed International Logistics Park at GIFT City will complement the International Bullion Exchange in terms of providing the necessary infrastructure for trade in the global bullion business,” Tapan Ray, MD & Group CEO at GIFT City, Ahmedabad, told ET. “It is important to ensure state-of-the-art facilities to attract investors from across the world.”While the park will initially be used to back up physical deliveries of financial transactions primarily in gold trades, it will also facilitate deliveries of other precious metals such as silver and platinum.In February, the government proposed to set up a bullion exchange for global investors at the International Finance Centre, GIFT.In addition, the park seeks to meet the high-value logistics needs of Dell, HP, Apple, Reliance Retail, and Amazon, leveraging the site’s locational advantages: It is near an international airport and on the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.To develop the park, the GIFT Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will invite bids from private developers. It has already obtained an in-principle approval to formulate the project report. The potential investment in the project would be in the range of Rs 800 -1,000 crore.Local automotive manufacturers may also avail the facilities for their high value components. Considering Gujarat’s position in the pharma sector, GIFT City can be instrumental in handling logistics for high-end medical equipment.The proposed park would have a vaulting capacity of more than 1000 tonnes for gold and 6000 tonnes for silver, sources said, citing international standards. 78047481Bullion can be stored and exported without paying 12.7% custom duty and 3% GST. In the London vaults now, 7,000 tonnes of gold and 30,000 tonnes of silver are physically stored.“When you offer a foolproof delivery mechanism, investors across the globe will show up,” said Ray, a former IAS officer from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He has been in charge since the past one year.At present, there are 14 international banking units, including State Bank of India, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of Baroda, working out of the GIFT IFSC.The park should open up many opportunities, especially for our future initiatives, said Ray.

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