With the ripple effects of the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) felt deeply by Indian startups, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) on Tuesday set up a committee of experts to formulate a roadmap to ‘onshore Indian Innovation’ to Ahmedabad’s GIFT IFSC.
The ten-member panel, headed by former Reserve Bank executive director G Padmanabhan, would suggest measures to encourage the Indian fintech and startups domiciled abroad to relocate to GIFT IFSC.
It will also identify issues that may be critical for the development of GIFT IFSC as a global fintech hub and suggest measures to encourage new fintechs having a global outlook to set up a commercial presence in GIFT IFSC, according to an official statement.
In order to better understand the nuances from regulatory, tax, legal and other perspectives and the measures required to correct them, it was essential to constitute the expert committee, IFSCA said.
The Indian startup ecosystem is the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, boasting an impressive 115 unicorns (billion-dollar enterprises).
Indian startups raised $44 billion in 2021, with over $33 billion going towards deals worth more than $5 million. A number of Indian startups are domiciled outside India — despite having the majority of their market, personnel and founders in India. These “externalized” or “flipped” startups constitute a large number of India’s unicorns.