GIFT City IFSC: when it makes sense for your fund or treasury

The tax holidays and FEMA freedoms inside GIFT City IFSC — and the substance you actually need to claim them.

GIFT City's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) offers a genuinely different tax-and-regulatory regime inside India — but it rewards substance, not just a registered address.

What the IFSC regime offers

Units in the IFSC can access a 100% tax holiday on profits for any 10 consecutive years out of 15, exemptions on certain capital gains, GST relief on services to offshore clients, and a single unified regulator (the IFSCA). For funds, family offices and treasury operations, the package can be compelling.

Funds, treasury and holding structures

Common uses include AIFs and funds domiciled in the IFSC, treasury and financing centres, aircraft and ship leasing, and increasingly family-office vehicles. The regime is designed to bring offshore activity — Singapore, Mauritius, Dubai — onshore into India.

Substance and the holiday

The reliefs assume real activity: qualified people, decision-making and operations in the IFSC. A nameplate presence does not hold up, and the benefits are conditioned on meeting the unit's licensing and operating requirements.

GIFT City vs Singapore / Mauritius

For India-centric flows, the IFSC can match or beat the traditional hubs on tax while keeping you onshore and rupee-adjacent. For genuinely global, multi-jurisdiction mandates, the established hubs may still fit better. It is a real comparison, not an automatic answer.

How Advisory Monks helps

We assess whether the IFSC fits your fund or treasury, model the holiday against the alternatives, and handle the IFSCA licensing and the substance build-out.

General information; the IFSC framework evolves — confirm current rules.