Head 3 / 20 · IFSCA (Finance Company) Regulations 2021
Finance Companies and Treasury Centres at GIFT IFSC
Pick the activities you want to undertake; we will indicate the applicable category, the indicative minimum owned-fund requirement, and the relevant IFSCA Regulation reference. Three categories of permitted activity sit on the IFSCA (Finance Company) Regulations 2021 — including the GRCTC Framework introduced 4 April 2025.
Finance Company / Treasury — The Practitioner's Booklet
A treatise-grade working reference on the licensing, capital, conduct-of-business and tax framework for Finance Company / Treasury at GIFT IFSC — every conclusion anchored in verbatim statutory and regulatory text.
The case for Finance Company / Treasury — 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.
What an IFSC Finance Company / Finance Unit may do
An entity registered with IFSCA as a Finance Company or Finance Unit may undertake one or more of the Core or Non-Core activities listed in the Schedule to the 2021 Regulations. The Global / Regional Corporate Treasury Centre (GRCTC) sits as a third row of the Schedule — distinct from a Core or Non-Core registration, with its own substance test under the 4 April 2025 Framework.
Finance Company Category Selector
Pick the activities. The tool maps to the IFSCA Schedule and indicates the minimum owned fund.
Based on the Schedule to the IFSCA (Finance Company) Regulations 2021 (as amended w.e.f. 4 July 2022) read with the IFSCA GRCTC Framework Circular of 4 April 2025. Indicative; obtain formal counsel before acting.
Related reading
- Booklet X — Finance Companies and Treasury Centres at GIFT IFSC (PDF, 7 pp, May 2026) · The full Firm handbook on the IFSCA (Finance Company) Regulations 2021 and the GRCTC Framework 2025.
- Resources page · IFSCA, RBI, MoF primary sources.
- Booklet IX — Global Administrative Office · Companion handbook for the banking-group administrative shell.
Talk to Bhatt & Joshi about your Finance Company / GRCTC architecture