Speaking to CNBC-TV18 at the Leadership Collective event, Sanjay Kaul, MD and Group CEO of GIFT City, said the international financial centre currently supports around 27,000 jobs and expects that number to rise significantly over the next few years.
“Yes, minimum one lakh — 100,000,” Kaul said when asked about GIFT City’s employment ambition for 2030.
According to Kaul, the challenge is not merely about generating jobs but ensuring that talent meets international standards required by banks, exchanges, leasing firms and fund managers operating within the financial hub.
“When we talk about talent, it’s not entirely about creating jobs. I would want to have talent that is globally deployable. That’s more important,” he said.
GIFT City has increasingly become home to a range of financial entities, including banks, fund management firms, insurance and reinsurance companies, exchanges and aircraft leasing businesses. Kaul said the arrival of these institutions naturally creates specialised employment demand and also brings experienced professionals into the ecosystem.
To address talent requirements, GIFT City has partnered with universities and industry bodies in Gujarat and nearby regions to develop specialised programmes aligned with industry demand.
“We at GIFT City have proactively entered into MoUs and associations with industry and academic institutions,” Kaul said.
The city is also building its own fintech institute and encouraging short-term upskilling courses to make graduates employment-ready for international financial services roles.
Kaul said Gujarat’s educational base offers a strong foundation for this strategy.
“If you see the statistics, within Gujarat — the immediate catchment area — we have more than 500,000 technically qualified students across technology and finance,” he said, adding that many of them require only targeted upskilling.
The push comes as GIFT City continues to expand rapidly. Around 1,300 entities are registered at the centre, with roughly 100 new registrations taking place every month, according to Kaul.
Standard Chartered, among the earliest foreign banks to establish operations in GIFT City, also highlighted the importance of attracting specialised talent.
PD Singh, CEO of India and South Asia at Standard Chartered, said Indian financial talent already has a strong global presence and GIFT City’s next phase could involve drawing senior international expertise into India.
“If we are bringing in an RTC, why can’t we bring the top talent from that RTC, and the rest will follow?” Singh said, referring to regional treasury centres.
He added that some highly specialised skills may eventually command higher incentives to relocate and build operations within the financial hub.
Kaul said talent development and ecosystem-building remain central to GIFT City’s next stage of growth as it seeks to establish itself as a globally competitive financial centre.