How units usually staff up
- Local hires. Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are within commuting distance and supply graduates and experienced staff for operations, finance, compliance and technology roles.
- Relocations. Senior and specialist roles are often filled by moving people from Mumbai, other Indian cities or abroad. For foreign nationals, see hiring foreign nationals.
- Group support. Research, technology and back-office support from the group is common, but it must be structured so that regulated decisions are still taken in the IFSC. See group service agreements.
The regulatory constraint is presence. Principal officers, compliance officers and other KMPs must, under most frameworks, be full-time and based in the IFSC. A GIC may not be set up by transferring existing contracts or work arrangements from group entities in India. Plan the people model before the application, because IFSCA assesses it at registration.
International branch campuses
Foreign universities can set up in GIFT IFSC under the IFSCA (Setting up and Operation of International Branch Campuses and Offshore Education Centres) Regulations, 2022, notified on 12 October 2022. A Ministry of Finance notification of 23 May 2022 made courses in financial management, FinTech, science, technology, engineering and mathematics offered by foreign universities in the IFSC a financial service, and a notification of 24 May 2023 clarified that the UGC Act and the AICTE Act do not apply to that service.
Deakin University opened the first branch campus in January 2024 and the University of Wollongong followed in July 2024. The campuses admit Indian, NRI and foreign students, including dependants of people working in GIFT City, so they serve both as a source of graduates and as an option for employees' families. See foreign universities.
Training and certification
IFSCA has built certification into its rules, which has created a training market at GIFT:
- the NISM-IFSCA-01 course on AML and CFT, developed by the National Institute of Securities Markets with the IFSCA Academy, required for AML Designated Directors and Principal Officers;
- the ICSI and ICAI courses on the fund management framework, required for FME KMPs and core staff;
- the ICSI course on the capital market intermediaries framework, required for CMI KMPs and core staff.
IFSCA encourages support staff, trustees and fund administrators to take the fund management course too. Budget time for these courses in onboarding. See KMP qualifications and certification.
Living and working in GIFT City
GIFT City is planned on a walk-to-work model, with social facilities such as schools, clubs and parks alongside offices and residential buildings. Housing, schooling and transport within GIFT City are provided by GIFT City Company and private operators, including residential developers and an international school. GIFT City describes itself as about twenty minutes from Ahmedabad airport.
For relocating staff, check housing availability and school places early, and decide what the unit will provide or reimburse. Employees in the SEZ also need SEZ identity cards, which IFSCA's set-up workflow places after the Gujarat registrations.
Planning points
- Align recruitment with the application timetable: KMPs must be identified for the application and be in place, in the IFSC, when the unit starts.
- Allow time for visas, registration after arrival and certification courses.
- Complete the Gujarat registrations before staff start. See Gujarat registrations.
- Check State incentives for employment and training, which change from time to time. See Gujarat industrial policy.