The Union government issued a notification stating that the head office of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSC) will be at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The country’s first IFSC is also built at GIFT City in Gandhinagar.
“The Central Government hereby appoints the 27th of April, 2020 as the date of the establishment of International Financial Services Centres Authority and the head office of that Authority shall at Gandhinagar, Gujarat,” the notification issued by the Union Finance Ministry said.
However, the decision has not gone well with the leaders from Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra who have contested the decision taken by the centre to have IFSC in Gandhinagar instead of Mumbai which is the financial capital of India.
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant hit out at the Centre saying that this decision was not in line with “sabka saath, sabka vikas” tagline used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while stating that Mumbai - the financial capital - was being suffocated.
Sawant, Shiv Sena MP in Lok Sabha, informed that he had appealed the centre against having the IFSC in Gujarat but his plea was ignored. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena Deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi cited a news report saying that the centre’s decision will take away 100,000+ new jobs in the financial sector and in ancillary service.
Expressing disappointment over the centre’s decision, Sharad Pawar said that setting up IFSC in Gujarat was a move against the country’s financial capital. In a letter, the NCP supremo wrote that this move will cause financial damage to the country and will also bring international discredit by undermining the importance of Mumbai.
Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai said that it would be natural to have the IFSC in Mumbai which is known globally for its financial status. “Mumbai has BSE, NSE, RBI, SEBI, headquarters of banks and financial companies,” the senior Shiv Sena leader said while adding that the Mumbai is an international financial centre.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat has also contested the decision to set up IFSC at Gandhinagar saying that it was disappointing and was being done to reduce Mumbai’s stature. Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat have asked the centre to reconsider this decision.
Varsha Gaikwad, who holds the Education portfolio in Maharashtra, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tweeted, “Mumbai has been robbed of its opportunity to become an IFSC destination due to special biased love of our Prime Minister for Gujarat, PM is for the country or just for one state?”
However, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis has defended the decision taken by his party in the centre. Fadnavis taunted the members of the ruling parties saying, “some people have selective memory when they want to blame everything on the Narendra Modi government.”
Fadnavis alleged that when the first IFSC was mentioned Congress-led Maharashtra government made no move while then Gujarat Chief Minister (Narendra Modi) began work to bring it to his state.
“The headquarters is announced at Gandhinagar because as of now it is the only functional #IFSC . Those who are beating the chest now were in power from 2007 to 2014 & did nothing for Mumbai #IFSC and that void was captured by the then CM Hon Narendra Modi ji (sic)," Fadnavis tweeted.
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