Bookkeeping, Accounting, Taxation and Financial Crime Compliance (BATF) services are expected to create 50,000 new jobs and emerge as one of the biggest employment generators at GIFT City, say officials.
“For the first time in the South-East Asian region, bookkeeping, accounting, taxation and financial crime compliance have been notified as financial services. Regulations were issued earlier this month. This allows large corporates to create their own accounting firms. Secondly, accounting firms can also set up new contracts here, and also offer services within the IFSC. We estimate that this segment alone can generate at least 50,000 jobs,” Dipesh Shah, Executive Director, International Financial Centres Authority (IFSCA) told businessline.
“We already see interest from large firms. We foresee that in the next two-three months, five players will come up with proposals to set up large firms,” Shah added. The IFSCA (Bookkeeping, Accounting, Taxation and Financial Crime Compliance Services) Regulations, 2024, were notified in the official gazette on June 6. This formally recognises the four services as financial services under Section 3 of the IFSCA Act of 2019.
Tax holiday
However, IFSCA has taken due diligence to ensure that players do not enter GIFT City attracted just by the tax holiday, say officials. “We were apprehensive that people might move their local offices to GIFT City to take advantage of the 10-year tax holiday. So we have ensured that applicants do not split up or reorganise an existing business in India, transfer or receive existing contracts or work arrangements from their group entities in India,” IFSCA official said.
The BATF service provider will ensure office space in IFSC or a minimum carpet area of 60 square meters per employee. The rules also specify that not more than 20 per cent of the employees employed by the BATF service provider in GIFT City should be transferred or relocated from any of its group entities in India. “These restrictions will ensure only serious players come in,” Shah added.