Public Sector Companies like ONGC Videsh Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation have launched their respective Global Treasury Centres at GIFT City that will manage treasury operations of their international assets and also raise funds, K Rajaraman, Chairman of International Financial Services Authority (IFSCA) at GIFT city said at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Summit at Gandhinagar.
Talking about the interest of PSUs in GIFT city, Rajaraman said a global corporate treasury centre of ONGC Videsh Ltd was inaugurated on Wednesday. “This treasury centre will manage the treasury operations of over 25 subsidiaries of ONGC Videsh Ltd and they are expected to raise close to $4 billion for their international projects, he said while speaking at a seminar on GIFT city on Thursday.” ONGC Videsh Ltd has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary called OVL Overseas IFSC Ltd at GIFT city.
“The Indian Oil Corporation has commenced operations of the Global Corporate Treasury Centre at GIFT IFSC. They too will manage treasury operations of IOCL’s overseas assets and are expected to raise over $5 billion from the GIFT IFSC,” he added.
Rajaraman said a conference of all central and State public sector units and national cooperatives will be held at IFSC on February 23 to showcase success stories and explore new ways of enabling PSUs to use GIFT city as a platform to consolidate or launch global businesses, extract cost-efficiencies in financing and access structured funds.
New initiatives
Talking about new initiatives, K Rajaraman, said, “We are working on a single window IT system that will enable all regulatory clearances to be provided online. This system is expected to go live from March 2024.”
“The committee on Ease of Doing Business, including digital onboarding of customers, is currently at work, headed by our executive director. We expect this committee to make recommendations which will further improve Ease of Doing Business in IFSC,” he added. Rajaraman said the IFSC lease ecosystem has got a major boost as part of Air India’s leasing arm —The Air India Fleet Services — has executed lease agreements for six A-350 wide-bodied aircraft. “These aircraft will be deployed in India and the delivery is expected to be completed by the year-end,” he added. Speaking about the entry of Deakin University of Australia in the GIFT City campus, Rajaraman said, “IFSCA has recently permitted the international branch campuses to avail infrastructure services from academic infrastructure providers, enabling easy entry into the market. This recent enablement will allow foreign universities to effectively use plug-and-play campus infrastructure developed by reputed third-party players in IFSC.”