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The International Financial Services Centre at GIFT City is set to significantly expand its investment offerings, with new rules for global commodity trading expected in three to six months, and frameworks for real estate investment trusts (Reits) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) due in just 30 days, according to three officials aware of the development.
These initiatives are vital to shielding India from global price volatility in oil and metals while reclaiming high-value trading activity currently lost to offshore hubs such as Dubai and Singapore.
Global commodity trading is a near-term regulatory priority for the International Financial Services Centre Authority (Ifsca), the GIFT City regulator, with groundwork largely complete and only final government approvals pending, said the first person cited above.
“… internally, all approvals in place… our expectation is that once the government approval is in place we should be able to bring in the regulations around it in the next three to six months,” this person added.
However, the government is still examining the proposal, said the second person. “First let the department of economic affairs examine it,” this person said, indicating that the final rollout timeline would depend on inter-ministerial approvals.
“Our expert committee has recommended that we promote commodity trading from here because that is the other side of treasury operations. So, both put together will make a very wholesome business and I think all of them can be managed very efficiently if you can put them in the same bucket,” the second person added.
The initiative is vital because, as a top global importer of crude oil and metals, India is heavily exposed to price volatility and geopolitical shocks. Establishing a domestic hub would provide a much-needed buffer against these external supply chain risks.
In August 2025, an expert committee submitted its report on positioning GIFT IFSC as global commodity trading hub to the regulator. The committee said in its report, “Unlike other major economies which actively mitigate these risks by investing in upstream assets and controlling significant portions of their supply chains, India has limited strategic leverage in international commodity markets.”
Beyond risk mitigation, the move is a targeted attempt to reclaim Indian commodity trading currently handled in Dubai and Singapore. A large number of Indian conglomerates currently run commodity trading desks from these jurisdictions because of regulatory and tax efficiencies.
Policymakers see GIFT City as a natural alternative that could bring these activities onshore, improve price discovery, and integrate trading with treasury operations. There are currently four major global commodity trading hubs – Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.
Market participants backed the move, warning that India will continue losing trading volumes to overseas markets without a proper domestic framework. “GIFT City is a perfect platform for such kinds of global trading activities because global minimum tax is not applicable if you have all these concessions. There is a lot of appetite among Indian companies and global companies to come and set up here,” said Jaiman Patel, partner, financial services, tax and regulatory at EY, calling it a fantastic opportunity.
“Even if the initial traction is modest, we must have these regulations in place… we should at least test the waters,” he added.
Ifsca is also working on expanding the ecosystem for Reits and InvITs at GIFT City. “On Reits and InvITs, I think we will have to iron out some tax issues… once that is done, Reits and InvITs can take off,” said a third official, adding that a committee examining these aspects is expected to submit its report in a month.
One of the key proposals under consideration is allowing Indian investors to access Reits backed by foreign assets through the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). “If the Reit is on a foreign asset, then Indians can also invest through LRS,” the third official added.
While Reits and InvITs are already well-established in the domestic market, their GIFT City versions are expected to evolve differently, potentially acting as cross-border investment vehicles.
Patel suggested that GIFT City should replicate the success of its existing investment models by creating a feeder mechanism. Under this framework, an entity in GIFT City could collect global capital and channel it directly into Indian Reits and InvITs, bypassing the usual regulatory hurdles that often deter foreign investors from the domestic market.
These proposals come as the Ifsca pushes for more corporate treasury offices to be established in GIFT City, a move that signals growing interest in the offshore hub. On 1 May, Mint reported that six listed companies have already applied for licenses to set up such treasury centres.
Subhana Shaikh is a business journalist at Mint, where she covers the Reserve Bank of India, monetary policy, and India’s bond markets. She has seven years of experience in reporting on financial markets, with a focus on banking and the broader financial system.<br><br>She began her career after completing her postgraduate diploma at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Bengaluru. She then spent five years at Informist Media, a news wire agency, where she closely tracked bond markets and the BFSI sector, developing a strong foundation in market reporting. She later moved to NDTV Profit, where she expanded her coverage across a wide range of business and economic stories.<br><br>At Mint, Subhana focuses on explaining central bank decisions, bond market movements, and banking trends for her readers. Her reporting combines on-ground inputs with careful analysis to help audiences understand complex financial developments.<br><br>Based in Mumbai, she is interested in exploring stories across the business landscape. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and spending time with her three cats.
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