Head 5 / 20 · IFSCA (CMI) Regulations 2025 · Live
Capital Market Intermediaries at GIFT IFSC
Eleven registrable categories — broker-dealer, clearing member, custodian, investment banker, investment adviser, research entity, distributor, debenture trustee, credit rating agency, ESG ratings, depository participant. Net-worth USD 25,000 to USD 1.5 million depending on activity; Master-Key Unified Registration for multi-category applicants since 11 April 2025.
Capital Market Intermediaries — The Practitioner's Booklet
A treatise-grade working reference on the licensing, capital, conduct-of-business and tax framework for Capital Market Intermediaries at GIFT IFSC — every conclusion anchored in verbatim statutory and regulatory text.
The case for Capital Market Intermediaries — before the rulebook.
GIFT IFSC competes head-on with Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius — on tax, on currency, and on access to India. Here is what actually moves the decision, before the regulatory detail below.
A 20-year tax holiday
100% deduction on business income for any 20 consecutive years in a 25-year block under Section 147 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (Finance Act 2026), then a 15% concessional rate. MAT capped at 9%.
US-dollar, offshore by law
An IFSC unit is treated as a person resident outside India under FEMA — raise, hold and transact in USD / EUR / GBP, with full foreign-currency freedom and no rupee-conversion drag.
100% foreign & NRI capital
Foreign and NRI investors can hold up to 100% — without the aggregate ownership caps that constrain comparable onshore vehicles.
An on-ramp to India
Unlike a purely offshore hub, GIFT IFSC sits on Indian soil and aligns with national policy — an offshore base that is also a door into one of the world's largest growth markets.
Zero STT, CTT & stamp duty
IFSC-exchange transactions are free of Securities and Commodity Transaction Tax and stamp duty; services rendered by IFSC units are zero-rated for GST.
One regulator, India's rule of law
A single unified regulator (IFSCA) under the IFSCA Act 2019, an independent judiciary, and a treaty-anchored legal order — certainty, not just headline rates.
The opportunity is real, but every benefit carries a condition — and that is where counsel at the threshold earns its place.
The 2025 framework — what changed
CMI Net-Worth Calculator
Pick the activities; the tool applies Schedule I and the highest-of multi-category rule.
Schedule I, IFSCA (CMI) Regulations 2025 (notified 11 Apr 2025). Indicative; confirm with the current Master Circular and Fee Circular.
Related reading
- Booklet XII — Capital Market Intermediaries at GIFT IFSC (PDF, May 2026) · Full Firm handbook on the 2025 framework.
- Fund Management Entity (FME) · Portfolio Manager registration migrated here w.e.f. 19 May 2022.
- Resources page · IFSCA primary sources by head.