GIFT City is positioning itself as a compelling alternative for Indian family offices through 20-year tax holiday benefits and enhanced currency access. As reported by NDTV Profit, GIFT IFSC units can claim 100% deduction of qualifying income for 20 consecutive years out of 25 years, making it particularly relevant to IFSC FME/family-office investment-management businesses. The regulatory framework provides units are treated as non-residents for foreign exchange purposes, allowing dealings with overseas entities outside India's Foreign Exchange Management Act. Units can transact in 15 foreign currencies, while resident individuals can remit up to $250,000 annually through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme for investments through GIFT City structures. The EY-Julius Baer Indian Family Office Playbook 2026 frames GIFT City's core appeal as 'onshore presence with offshore functionality' - global market access and currency flexibility without full capital relocation.
Indian high net worth individuals are undergoing a fundamental transformation in their investment approach, moving from product-led investing to portfolio-led investing, according to Julius Baer India's Head of Wealth Management Solutions Ashwin Patni. As reported by NDTV Profit, earlier wealth was concentrated in real estate, fixed income, direct equities and business interests, but today investors are increasingly exploring mutual funds, PMS, AIFs, private markets and global assets as components of an overall portfolio strategy. This strategic shift is being reinforced by the growing sophistication of family offices, with Indian family offices growing from 45 in 2018 to about 300 in 2024, as highlighted in an EY study. The trend is particularly pronounced among business families who seek to diversify beyond their core operations to manage concentration risk effectively.
Alternative investments should be viewed as portfolio-construction tools rather than simply return enhancers, emphasizes Patni in his analysis. According to the report, alternatives introduce exposures that may behave differently from traditional equity and fixed-income markets, with private equity providing long-term growth, private credit generating income, and certain real-asset strategies offering exposure to inflation-sensitive assets. As noted by Kresha Gupta, CA and director of Steptrade Capital, family offices can invest in private equity, pre-IPO, and growth-stage investment stages of companies that may not yet be open to public market investors. This is especially true in India where the private market ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with family offices structurally better suited for investments that may take time for value creation to play out. The key consideration remains whether alternative investments improve the portfolio's overall risk-adjusted outcome, taking into account liquidity, investment horizon, manager quality and underlying risks.
The primary objective for Indian HNIs to increase global allocation is reducing concentration risk rather than simply accessing new opportunities, according to Patni's analysis. As reported by NDTV Profit, many Indian HNIs already have significant exposure to India through businesses, careers, real estate and domestic financial investments, making global allocation crucial for balance. International markets provide access to sectors and companies with limited representation in India, particularly technology, healthcare innovation and advanced manufacturing. According to an EY-Julius Baer study, Indian family offices are diversifying beyond assets and moving into global equities, real estate, private equity, venture capital, and other options. However, this shift is careful and measured, with 57 per cent of family offices surveyed having less than 10 per cent of their portfolios in private equity or venture capital.
While GIFT City offers compelling incentives, it faces competition from established international financial centers. As reported by NDTV Profit, Singapore's family office numbers crossed 2,000 by end-2024, a 43% jump from 1,400 the previous year, backed by tax treaties with more than 85 countries and deep wealth-management talent pools. Dubai's appeal lies in regulatory looseness and zero-tax structuring across its three free zones, with DIFC alone housing over 800 family-office-related structures. The EY-Julius Baer Indian Family Office Playbook 2026 frames GIFT City's core appeal as 'onshore presence with offshore functionality' - global market access and currency flexibility without full capital relocation. However, GIFT City's actual adoption metrics remain unavailable, with no family office count or AUM figures provided against Singapore's or Dubai's established benchmarks. The report notes that the best location depends on the priorities of the family office, whether regulatory certainty, access to markets, depth of talent, proximity to the home base or other factors.
