The polarised society needs to understand that Mumbai has a natural International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) ecosystem and it can still become International Financial Services Centre if Maharashtra Government desires.
Well, how does the financial capital status of Mumbai come under threat as the RBI, SEBI in Mumbai are still the roots to the nation? Wonder why some people chose to have a selective memory when they want to blame everything on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling government.
The Maharashtra Gujarat fight is again to happen as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday decided to locate the newly created International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) Authority in Gandhinagar. But the thruth has something different to serve the PM Modi haters community.
The polarised society needs to understand that Mumbai has a natural IFSC ecosystem and it can still become International Financial Services Centre if Maharashtra Government desires. The headquarters is announced at Gandhinagar as it is the only functional IFSC today. Those who are beating the chest now were in power from 2007 to 2014 & did nothing for Mumbai IFSC and that void was captured by the then CM Narendra Modi in Gujarat.
In 2007, at Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the then Gujarat CM announced GIFT City Ahmedabad to be developed as IFSC and appointed ECADI for its planning. By 2012 all plans of IFSC at Gujarat were ready and work had almost started. In 2015, the government of India enacted a law to govern IFSC and immediately Gift City proposal was submitted and eventually Mumbai’s proposal was also submitted.
GIFT city was in advanced stage so it got approval and Mumbai BKC proposal faced technical problem for want of 50 hectare contiguous land. A solution was found to it and again a proposal was sent after appointing consultants and making all the plans. The Central Government also took into account the IFSC plans at BKC while planning the bullet train station and station is planned in such a way that IFSC building will come on it.
In the meantime GIFT city had already started functioning and the then Finance Ministre Arun Jaitely said that we are trying to see if 2 IFSCs can coexist. GoM submitted a report on how they can coexist and that is still under consideration. And it is now, in December 2019 that the Government of India enacted a law to create an Authority to regulate financial services center and its headquarters is now notified in Ahmedabad.
(Via NewsBharati at https://www.newsbharati.com/Encyc/2020/5/2/IFSC-Mumbai.html)
