GIFT City

GIFT City is a planned business district near Gandhinagar, created to give India an international finance centre able to compete with hubs such as Singapore, Dubai and London. At its core is the IFSC, a special economic zone where tax concessions and simpler rules draw foreign banks, insurers and fintech firms. HSBC, Standard Chartered, JP Morgan, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank all have offices here.

The district is known for its infrastructure: utilities run through underground tunnels, waste is collected by an automated system, and a single district cooling system serves the buildings. Glass towers line broad avenues and landscaped green spaces, and homes, hotels and shops are built in so that people can live and work in the same place.