Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), India’s first operational greenfield smart city and international financial services centre, is fast emerging as a realty hotspot with several real estate majors queueing up for a piece of the action both in the commercial and residential space.
Real estate developers who have already invested in GIFT City cite transparency of regulatory authorities, single-window clearances, speedy approval process and overall infrastructure provided by GIFT City as the real game changer.
Quaiser Parvez, chief executive officer of Nucleus Office Parks, the operating platform for fully-owned Blackstone Offices in India, told FE, “Usually, there is a lot of unpredictability in real estate project development because you never know how the space will turn out to be and how much time it will take to implement a project.
However, transparency of the regulatory authorities, well-regulated layout plans and a clearcut development vision have resulted in massive predictability for the real estate development projects in GIFT City. And this predictability makes these projects economically attractive for the real estate developers.”
Blackstone, a global leader in real estate investing, has a 400,000 square ft commercial project named ‘Fintech One’ in GIFT City. “We are only less than a year old in GIFT City and 40% of the occupancy area has already been leased out. This shows that there is a phenomenally strong occupier interest in GIFT City and the institutional ownership is taking shape. This is the only micro market in India where inbound queries are higher than outbound efforts in leasing up the commercial spaces,” said Parvez.
“Prior to GIFT, no one could have thought that multiple ‘Fortune 500’ companies could work out of the same building, but GIFT has made that possible. IBM is already working out of the premises at Fintech One. Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, is doing their fitouts and we are in talks with other big players also,” he added .
Sources also revealed that tech giant Google is in talks with Blackstone to lease out an office in the Fintech One building. It should be noted that IBM has taken up an office area of 60,000 square ft in Fintech One, Capgemini has taken up 45,000 square ft and Google is planning to take up 20,000 square ft area for its office in GIFT City. All three deals are with similar areas for expansion by June 2024.
Shivalik Group, a frontrunner of luxurious, residential and commercial spaces development in Gujarat, is developing four projects, two commercial and two residential, in GIFT City. These projects will be spread over an area of 4 million square ft.
Similarly, Taral Shah, managing director, Shivalik group, said, “Our first commercial project in GIFT City, Curv, will be the first twisted tower project in India. We are planning to launch the project before Diwali. Although we cannot start the booking process as we still have to get the approval from RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) but we are receiving a lot of EoIs (Expression of Interests) already.”
Shah went on to add, “The infrastructure services provided by GIFT, including a captive power plant, central air conditioning unit, easy payment facilities, sewage management system, garbage collection system and single-window clearance are a major attraction for real estate developers. Additionally, the developers do not need to worry about marketing their projects because the authorities are doing excellent marketing around the world. The state and the central government are pulling out all stops to ensure adequate publicity for the project. Because of these initiatives, the developers have a sense of security that their project will not suffer for a lack of demand. This has given them the liberty to try new innovations, adapt newer technologies and the machinery to speed up the construction process,” said Shah.
He added, “GIFT has changed the skyline of the city. Local developers too are being incentivised to become self-sustainable. They are also learning innovative ways to market their product. Competing with global developers has given developers much-needed international exposure. GIFT City has the potential to become the most sought-after financial services centre in the world.”