There has been immense development in the world since the Industrial Revolution. Besides, the standard of life has seen an astronomical growth since the last decade. The Information Technology and a financial boom has gifted the world with stupendous facilities and economic opportunities. Being one of the most significant economies of the world, a great contributor of the IT, Intellectual Property and Security services to the world, India now joins the league of holding a mammoth Global Financial Hub. This hub will unleash a plethora of world-class infrastructure and facilities that shall outperform to stun the world.
1. Design and Concept: The Gujrat International Financial Tech (GIFT) city will be a juxtaposition of townships, multi-speciality Special Economic Zones(SEZs), financial centre and business district which is spread over a sprawling 886 acres of area. Still under construction, it is situated 12 km away from Ahmedabad International Airport. It is being designed at par with global centres such as Shinjuku, Tokyo, Lujiazui, Shanghai, La Defense, Paris, London Dockyards etc. The city is an optimized integration of state-of-art infrastructure and ecological sustainability. Crucial quotients of the environment, waste management and species protection has been taken care of.
2. Reason for choosing Gujrat: One of the fastest growing states in the country, Gujrat has proven its financial potential and business acumen through consistent GDP growth of 10 per cent since last six years. Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are globally recognized to be one of the best places for migration. Some of the areas it leads in are:
Petrochemicals
Pharmaceuticals
Cement
Ceramics
Diamond
Exports
Stock Market Capitalisation
3. Potential in financial and ITeS sector: Mckinsey Market Assessment Report highlights the scope of growth and generation of jobs through such financial hub. This shall also create a conducive environment to increase capital and economic activity. The GIFT city will provide more than an unbelievable 5,00,000 direct and indirect jobs.
For this purpose it needs several acres of real estate office and residential space.
4. Promoters: This escapade is under the agency Gujrat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDC), Government of Gujrat. It is in a 50:50 joint venture with the company Gujrat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited GITFCL) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS). Some of its associates are:
Falwood India Private Limited
East China Architectural Design Limited
McKinsey & Company
Jones Lang LaSelle Meghraj
Maharaj & Aibara
TCE Engineering Consultants Limited
Hewitt
British Telecom
5. Business Structure: It is divided into three layouts.
Mutli-Service SEZ with IFSC that is segregated into Processing and Non-Processing area, Domestic Finance Centre, and Associated Infrastructure.
• Commodity Exchanges
• Global Trading Exchanges
• Insurance
• Offshore Banking
• IT/ITeS
• BPO, KPO Sevices
• Data Centres
• Apartments, Hotels, Shopping Malls, Retail Stores, Theatre, Medical Centre
• Commercial and Office Buildings
• Commercial and Office Buildings
• Schools, Clubs, Hotel, Exhibition Centre, Housing
6. Towering Buildings:
The Diamond Tower- This will be the tallest building of India with 87 floors reaching upto 400 metres. Designed by ECADI architects, it will be located on Fortune Islands. It has been cut into shapes to shine like a diamond.
The Gateway Towers- It will handle the street intersections and will be the main entrance of the city from public view. Inspired from the works of Buland Darwaza it will have terrace gardens and rooftop restaurants.
The Crystal Towers- Another breathtaking beauty of GIFT skyline, this building will be overlooking the Sabarmati River over a vast area.
Exhibition Centre- With an enthralling pattern of Indian architecture and organic curves, this elevation metaphorically represents the Mahabodhi Tree.
7. Special infrastructure features: Since this venture is considered to be a hallmark of excellence and magnanimity, it has been designed in close collaboration with the environment through sustainable development.
It will have
Water Supply Sewerage System
Smart technology with disaster/crisis management preparedness
Samrudhi Sarovar and Waterfront Development
Automated waste collection and Solid waste management
Substation and distribution automation for Power
Space optimisation and safe operations
District Cooling system
8. Environment-friendliness: Factors that contribute to this are rooftop garden, usage of non-conventional energy, rainwater harvesting, planning with micro-climatology, and Green buldings.
9. Criticism: Various economists, political observers and thinkers believe that developing such gigantically expensive mega-structures won’t help Indian citizens much as the country is still facing problems of acute hunger and chronic poverty. Developing 100 smart cities would cost $2 trillion (KPMG India). Furthermore, with a population of 1 lakh in a city, the cost of infrastructure for each person would be around $23,000 whereas ironically India’s per capita income is $1600 (World Bank).
10. Recently in news: The government has decided to ease liquor norms in this portion og Gujarat. Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) will set up an international exchange in GIFT City and has signed a MoU for asset class exchange. The Dehradun Municipal Corporation has signed up for a Greenfield Township. IndusInd Bank will get an IFSC Banking UNit here. Oracle has clinched the biggest space of 105,442 square feet of office in GIFT City. Also, this global centre is expected to bring back the $50 billion in revenue annually loss to other global hubs, where regulations will be guided by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA).
Although, several critical statements have surfaced diminishing the importance of this gargantuan project, but India being one of the fastest developing countries needs to leverage its stunning intellectual class. Th prime motive is the creation of jobs and generation of revenues that is possible only if reformative steps are taken in the right direction. The GIFT city venture is a bugle of Smart Cities and soon such townships will hop throughout the nation offering prodigious opportunities.
