How Hexaware's GIFT City Move Gives Indian IT a New Financial Frontier

Beyond Mumbai, GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) is emerging as a thriving hub for financial services by addressing the critical friction points that limit traditional financial hubs. 

It overcomes strict regulatory capital controls imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by operating as a legally distinct, offshore jurisdiction. It acts as an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) that trades and settles transactions almost exclusively in foreign currencies. There are over 1,034 institutions operating within IFSC alone.

“This setup creates a seamless gateway that allows international banks, alternative investment funds (AIFs), and multinational corporations to bypass standard local exchange regulations and move capital into and out of India without currency translation delays,” observes Alouk Kumar, CEO, Inductus Group, in a conversation with AIM.

Among them is IT consulting firm Hexaware Technologies, which has inaugurated a new delivery centre at GIFT City as a global hub for banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) innovation. The centre is expected to play a key role in delivering digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud modernisation, data engineering, and next-generation software services to Hexaware’s global clientele.

The company plans to create nearly 1,000 high-skilled jobs over the next three years, spanning software engineering, AI, cloud computing, digital transformation, data analytics, business operations, and customer experience services.

Moreover, the move adds to GIFT City’s appeal as a competitive destination, not just for digital and financial services, but now also for IT innovation.

Why GIFT City?

Speaking about the rationale behind the investment, Vikash Kumar Jain, Chief Financial Officer of Hexaware Technologies, tells AIM that GIFT City provides an ecosystem specifically designed for international financial services operations.

“GIFT City suits the kind of work our global BFSI clients are asking us to take on. As India’s first and only operational IFSC, it gives us a setting built specifically for financial services, with a regulatory environment geared to cross-border activity,” Jain says.

Jain further highlights that the centre is set up to serve global clients. “Demand from these clients keeps growing as banks and insurers modernise their systems, and GIFT City gives us a base to meet that demand and add to our global delivery network,” he notes.

“The physical, fiscal, and regulatory ecosystem of this offshore zone gives it a sharp operational advantage over other Indian financial centres. By replacing the multi-layered, bureaucratic web with a single, consolidated authority, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), GIFT City has drastically accelerated corporate onboarding and product approvals,” Kumar adds.

The IFSCA is responsible for developing and regulating financial products, services, and institutions within IFSCs.

GIFT City’s financial scale reflects this regulatory ease: banking assets within the IFSC have grown 7x in five years, rising to over $106 billion, alongside total commitments raised by fund management entities surpassing $32 billion. It operates as a highly specialised, cost-effective portal explicitly optimised for international derivative trading, global treasury management, and offshore financing, handling high monthly exchange turnovers that clear $100 billion in May. 

By offshoring a slice of the regulatory landscape while remaining geographically tied to one of the world's fastest-growing economies, GIFT City significantly recaptures the massive volume of India-centric business that historically went straight to competing global zones like Dubai or Singapore.

To secure global competitiveness, the hub offers an aggressive tax neutrality framework that includes a tax holiday for 10 consecutive years within a 15-year window, complete exemption from localised levies like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and stamp duties, and an estimated 20% reduction in operating costs, per the Gujarat government.

Gujarat Emerging as a Strategic Talent Hub

Beyond infrastructure and policy advantages, Hexaware sees Gujarat as a long-term strategic destination for technology talent.

“GIFT City presents a compelling proposition for a company of Hexaware’s focus and scale. The financial services landscape, the quality of talent, and the policy framework the state government has put in place made this a clear decision for us,” Jain says.

The company expects a significant portion of its future workforce to be sourced locally, helping create opportunities for professionals outside traditional technology hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai.

“We plan to hire around 1,000 professionals over the next three years. A good share of that will be sourced locally as we build capability closer to emerging talent pools. The emphasis is less on headcount than on the high-value skills that support our delivery for clients,” Jain explains.

The launch also reflects a broader shift taking place across the global capability centre (GCC) and IT services landscape. As enterprises increasingly seek business outcomes rather than operational support, delivery centres are evolving into strategic innovation hubs.

“Whether it is a GCC or a service provider, clients now expect teams to drive AI adoption and modernisation and to solve hard business problems, rather than simply add capacity,” he observes.

Jain describes Hexaware’s investment as being closely aligned with the broader objectives behind GIFT City.

“GIFT City is a government-backed initiative, and an investment like ours is part of what gives it momentum. Our presence brings skilled jobs and international business activity into the state, which is precisely the outcome the project was designed to create,” he says. “As more firms commit to the location, we expect GIFT City to weigh more heavily in India’s financial and digital economy over time.”

To systematically feed this sophisticated corporate demand, GIFT City has integrated an institutional pipeline that blends advanced academic research with live market operations. 

The GIFT International Fintech Institute (GIFT IFI), an Asian Development Bank-backed initiative driven by a premier academic consortium including IIT Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad University, and the University of California, San Diego, trains specialists in blockchain rails, regtech, and automated risk engines.

Hexaware’s new delivery centre arrives at a time when financial institutions worldwide are rapidly investing in AI, automation, and cloud technologies to improve efficiency, customer experience, and operational resilience. According to the World Economic Forum, AI investments across banking, insurance, capital markets, and payments businesses are expected to reach $97 billion by 2027.

R Srikrishna, CEO and Executive Director of Hexaware, says the company’s expansion aligns closely with its broader strategy of staying closer to customers while leveraging India’s technology talent. “GIFT City represents a unique convergence of financial services, technology, and innovation,” he notes