Public and privately held Indian firms can now list their shares on the International Financial Services Center at Gujarat International Fin-Tec City, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced at a briefing Friday. “It will facilitate access to global capital and result in better valuations for Indian companies,” she said.
India has been considering proposals to allow firms to list on foreign exchanges, in order to compete with Chinese companies that flourish on bourses in the US. However, issues including taxation have posed hurdles, and Indian companies can currently only access foreign markets through instruments such as depository receipts.
Businesses operating in GIFT City — a flagship project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that aims to take on global financial hubs like Dubai and Singapore — are exempt from the many rules and taxes that hamper trading in the rest of India. Trading of India stock futures shifted to GIFT from Singapore earlier this month.
