GIFTs most attractive proposition is that it ensures 99.999% power reliability, which means outage of 5.3 minutes per annum. LED street lighting assures energy conservation, and there will be India’s first district cooling systems.

There will be an automated waste collection system which will maximise resource recovery, cut down on emissions and minimise impact on the environment and human health.

Financial analysts say that GIFT could become a base for foreign currency loan syndications and would attract a slice of business from Singapore exchanges with extended trading hours. But thatcan happen if the government drops securities transaction taxes and short-term capital gains taxes, and even bringing down income taxes to compete with Singapore and Dubai.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley described GIFT as a miracle and commented it as one of the most interesting futuristic projects. It is a role model for the development of future Indian Smart Cities.

He said the state government had used wasteland to create this world-class infrastructure within the project that is spread over 886 acres. The idea is to develop GIFT as a global alternative to existing financial centres such as Dubai, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shanghai, La Defense, Paris and London Dockyard.