How GIFT City Is Emerging as a Global Hub for Aviation Finance and Treasury Operations

With 40+ aircraft lessors already onboard and 11 banks live on USD settlement rails, GIFT City's leadership is making a deliberate case: India's financing for its own aviation and corporate treasury needs should happen from within India, not from overseas financial centres.

40+ Aircraft lessors at GIFT City

11 Banks Live on USD settlement rails

2,000-2,500 Aircraft on order: Indian Airlines

A Strategic Repositioning: Financing Where the Demand Is

At the Leadership Collective event, Sanjay Kaul, MD and Group CEO of GIFT City, articulated a strategic philosophy that is increasingly defining the IFSC's growth trajectory: prioritise sectors where India has strong underlying economic demand but where the financing activity itself continues to occur overseas. Aircraft leasing is the clearest illustration of this principle in action, and it is rapidly becoming one of GIFT City's signature growth stories.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Kaul outlined the scale of the opportunity. India currently operates around 1,000 leased aircraft, while domestic airlines have order books estimated between 2,000 and 2,500 aircraft, figures that reflect India's position as one of the fastest-growing aviation markets globally. Yet, in Kaul's own words, a majority, if not all, of the leasing financing of these aircraft happens outside the country.

If India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets, why should the financing not happen from within India?"  Sanjay Kaul, MD & Group CEO, GIFT City

From Aspiration to Infrastructure: 40+ Lessors and Counting

This is not merely an aspirational statement; it is already manifesting in measurable infrastructure. GIFT City currently hosts more than 40 aircraft lessors, as Indian policymakers work deliberately to position the International Financial Services Centre as a domestic hub for aviation financing. This builds on regulatory groundwork laid by IFSCA in recent years, including tax incentives for aircraft leasing entities and a framework designed to compete directly with established aviation finance hubs such as Ireland, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The economic logic is compelling. Aircraft leasing is a capital-intensive, long-duration financing activity that generates substantial fee income, asset management revenue, and ancillary financial services demand insurance, hedging, escrow services, and legal structuring. Every aircraft lease currently financed outside India represents a transaction, and the associated financial services revenue, that GIFT City's strategy aims to capture domestically.

The Second Pillar: Global Treasury Operations

Alongside aviation finance, Kaul identified global treasury operations as a second major strategic priority for GIFT City. The rationale mirrors the aviation thesis: Indian companies raising overseas capital have traditionally operated treasury functions abroad, not by choice but by necessity, because the ecosystem and supporting financial infrastructure required for sophisticated treasury management were concentrated in foreign financial centres like London, Singapore, and New York.

Kaul explained that this equation is beginning to shift. With GIFT City's growing service capabilities, India now offers, if not all, then a majority of the treasury services that Indian multinational companies operating overseas require. The value proposition, in Kaul's framing, is comfort: the ability to manage treasury functions nearer home, within an India-aligned regulatory and operational environment, rather than navigating an entirely foreign financial ecosystem.

Critically, Kaul stressed that treasury operations extend well beyond borrowing and lending; they encompass broader financial management and capital allocation activities. This signals that GIFT City's ambitions in the treasury space are not limited to basic banking services, but extend toward becoming a comprehensive treasury management hub for India's growing universe of globally active corporates.

The Banking Backbone: Standard Chartered's Early Bet Pays Off

The institutional credibility behind GIFT City's growth narrative was reinforced by PD Singh, CEO of India and South Asia at Standard Chartered, who confirmed that the bank's early investment in GIFT City as the first foreign bank to establish a presence there has delivered strong growth and enabled new business opportunities. Standard Chartered has since become a key enabler of the centre's international ambitions, providing US dollar settlement infrastructure that underpins much of GIFT City's cross-border financial activity.

According to Singh, 11 banks are now operating on these settlement rails, which are also being progressively opened for cross-border payments. The operational impact is significant: payments that previously took a day or a day and a half to clear are now settling almost in real-time, with some transactions completing instantly. This kind of settlement infrastructure is foundational without efficient, reliable USD clearing; the broader ambitions around aviation finance and treasury operations would lack the plumbing necessary to function at an institutional scale.

Diversifying Activity: Beyond Aviation and Treasury

Singh highlighted that the breadth of transactions now being conducted from GIFT City demonstrates the centre's growing scale and maturity. He cited refinancing of education loan books, social bond financing, aircraft and shipping finance, overseas direct investment-linked capital flows, and commodity hedging as activities already underway. In Singh's assessment, GIFT City is no longer in the discovery phase; the focus has shifted decisively toward ramping up scale across this diversified activity base.

Activity Category	Examples Already Live at GIFT City
Aviation & Aircraft Finance	40+ aircraft lessors; financing for ~1,000 leased aircraft + 2,000–2,500 on order books
Cross-Border Settlement	11 banks live on USD settlement rails; near real-time payment clearing
Education Loan Refinancing	Refinancing of education loan books for Indian-linked borrowers
Social Bond Financing	Structuring and placement of social impact bonds
Shipping Finance	Vessel and maritime asset financing alongside aviation
ODI-Linked Capital Flows	Overseas Direct Investment-linked capital flow structuring
Commodity Hedging	Risk management and hedging instruments for commodity exposure
Corporate Treasury Operations	Borrowing, lending, cash management, and capital allocation for Indian MNCs

The Remaining Friction: Funds, Capital Formation & International Recognition

Despite the encouraging trajectory, Kaul was candid that funds and capital formation  an area central to GIFT City's broader ambitions, continue to face procedural frictions. He was clear that these are not major policy hurdles but rather operational issues and matters involving international recognition arrangements, the kind of cross-border regulatory and legal recognition needed for GIFT City-domiciled funds to be treated equivalently to those in established jurisdictions by counterparties, regulators, and investors abroad.

As GIFT City continues its expansion, Kaul emphasised that regulatory clarity, stability, and sovereign comfort remain the critical variables that will determine the pace and scale of global capital attraction. These are not abstract concerns; institutional investors, aircraft lessors, and multinational treasury teams allocate capital and relocate operations based on confidence in long-term regulatory predictability. GIFT City's progress in aviation finance and treasury operations suggests that this confidence is building, even as the centre works through the remaining operational details.

Taken together, the aviation finance push, the treasury operations strategy, and the rapidly maturing settlement infrastructure represent a coherent vision: an India that finances its own growth, manages its own corporate treasury needs, and processes its own cross-border payments without ceding that financial activity, and the associated economic value, to centres overseas.

DISCLAIMER

This article is published for informational, educational, and analytical purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to invest in any security, fund, or financial instrument.

All statements attributed to Sanjay Kaul (MD & Group CEO, GIFT City) and PD Singh (CEO, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered) are sourced from publicly reported remarks made at the Leadership Collective event and to CNBC-TV18, as of June 2026. Views expressed are those of the named individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

Figures relating to aircraft lessor counts, leased aircraft numbers, airline order books, and bank participation on settlement rails are based on public statements made by the cited individuals and are subject to revision. The publisher has not independently verified these figures.

Aviation finance, treasury operations, and cross-border financial activities involve currency, regulatory, credit, and market risk. Past growth trends referenced do not guarantee future performance or outcomes.

Businesses, financial institutions, and investors considering activity in GIFT City or IFSCA-regulated markets are strongly advised to consult qualified legal, tax, and financial advisors, and to refer to official IFSCA regulations and communications for authoritative guidance.

The publisher is not a registered financial advisor, bank, or regulatory authority. Nothing in this article constitutes financial or regulatory advice.