GIFT City: Tax Breaks & Global Access for Indian Family Offices
By Business Desk
GIFT City offers Indian family offices a 20-year tax holiday and 15-currency transaction flexibility, providing onshore capabilities for offshore market access.
GIFT City is actively promoting itself as a prime destination for Indian family offices, offering significant incentives like a 20-year tax holiday. This initiative aims to provide an “onshore presence with offshore functionality” for accessing global markets.
Key Incentives for Family Offices
The core appeal, as outlined by the EY-Julius Baer Indian Family Office Playbook 2026, focuses on enabling access to global markets and currency flexibility. GIFT City provides a substantial 20-year tax holiday. It also offers the flexibility for transactions in 15 foreign currencies.
This structure eliminates the need for a complete relocation of capital or decision-making outside India. Units operating within GIFT IFSC are specifically designated as non-residents for foreign exchange purposes.
This regulatory distinction largely exempts them from India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act. Such a carve-out simplifies interactions with overseas entities, further strengthening GIFT City’s appeal.
GIFT City’s Global Competition
GIFT City’s proposition stands in contrast to established global financial hubs like Singapore and Dubai, each offering distinct advantages to family offices.
Singapore boasts an established scale, supporting over 2,000 family offices by the end of 2024. Its strength lies in extensive tax treaties and a deep pool of wealth-management talent.
Dubai, on the other hand, attracts family offices through its regulatory flexibility. It also offers zero-tax structures prevalent across its free zones, appealing to specific investment strategies.
Crucially, the referenced playbook does not provide specific metrics regarding GIFT City’s current engagement. There is no mention of the number of family offices or assets under management within the financial hub.
This absence of a “scoreboard entry” leaves an open question about its current adoption. Ultimately, the optimal location for a family office depends on its specific priorities, making the decision to utilize GIFT City’s framework highly individual.