India's International Financial Services Centre is positioning itself as an aircraft leasing hub. The regulatory architecture is in place, the question is whether lessors will come.
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, represents India's most ambitious attempt to capture a share of the $300 billion global aircraft leasing market. The International Financial Services Centre Authority has established a regulatory framework that offers competitive tax treatment, single-window approvals, and a legal structure modelled on Ireland's — the country that currently dominates global aircraft leasing with over 50 per cent market share.
The economics are compelling. Indian airlines are expected to add over 1,500 aircraft to their fleets by 2035. Currently, virtually all these aircraft are leased through entities based in Dublin, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands. If even a fraction of this business were routed through GIFT City, it would create a significant financial services ecosystem — generating employment, tax revenue, and institutional expertise in aviation finance.
Several lessors have established subsidiaries in GIFT City, including SMBC Aviation Capital and BOC Aviation. The Aircraft Objects Act, which gives India a Cape Town Convention-compliant framework for aircraft repossession, has improved lessor confidence. But the real test is whether GIFT City can attract the deep pool of financing talent — lawyers, structurers, risk managers — that makes Dublin's aircraft leasing cluster self-sustaining.