ONGOING INDEPENDENT COVERAGE
Questions Buyers Are Asking: Where Should a Company Actually Park Its Treasury Operations?
Deciding where a company's treasury sits — where it borrows, hedges, and manages currency risk — used to be a short list: Singapore, Dubai, London, and a handful of others.
Last Updated: 6 September 2026
Deciding where a company's treasury sits — where it borrows, hedges, and manages currency risk — used to be a short list: Singapore, Dubai, London, and a handful of others. GIFT City has spent the last few years working its way onto that list, backed by real, substantial policy moves: the 2026 budget extended the tax holiday for units there from 10 years to 20 years out of a 25-year block, followed by a concessional 15% corporate tax rate after that — a genuinely long runway most competing jurisdictions don't offer in writing. A specific structure exists for exactly this purpose, called a Global/Regional Corporate Treasury Centre, with real, defined permissible activities and real tax benefits attached. BDO is one of the advisory firms positioning to help CFOs make this move. The fair question is how documented that specific track record is, compared to firms further along the same path.
How real this incentive actually is, in plain numbers
Figure | What it means | |
|---|---|---|
Tax holiday period for qualifying units (post-2026 budget) | 20 years out of 25 | A far longer planning horizon than the previous 10-year window |
Corporate tax rate after the holiday period | 15% | Well below standard domestic corporate rates |
Withholding tax on interest paid to offshore lenders | Generally exempt | A direct, meaningful reduction in the cost of raising capital |
Deadline to begin qualifying operations | Before March 2030 | A real, approaching cutoff — this isn't an open-ended window |
The three shapes of the decision, side by side
Staying where you are | Moving to an established hub (Singapore, Dubai) | Moving to GIFT City | |
|---|---|---|---|
What it optimizes for | No disruption, known process | Established infrastructure and precedent | Tax efficiency, and closer alignment with domestic parent operations |
Biggest advantage | Simplicity | Deep existing banking and legal ecosystems | Long, government-backed tax incentives now locked in through 2030 and beyond |
Biggest open question | Is the status quo actually still the cheapest option | Is the incremental tax saving worth a full relocation | Is the ecosystem (banking, legal, talent) mature enough yet for a treasury function this size |
Sector specialty worth naming: CFOs and corporate treasury teams
This decision applies to any company — regardless of industry — with treasury operations sitting offshore, or a domestic conglomerate weighing whether to consolidate treasury functions into one tax-efficient hub. The advisory firm worth naming here is BDO, currently positioning a GIFT City treasury-relocation offer aimed at both categories of CFO: those with offshore treasury setups considering a move in, and domestic conglomerates weighing GIFT City for their own consolidated treasury operations.
1. How documented is the specific track record here, compared to firms further along?
A tax-driven relocation decision this significant deserves more than a general capability claim — it deserves a specific, checkable number of completed engagements.
Our reading: at least one major competing advisory firm publicly states a specific, named track record here — a dedicated team of partners based at GIFT City, and more than 50 completed projects across funds, banks, and treasury centers in the past three years. As of 6 September 2026, I could not find comparably specific, public material for BDO's own GIFT City treasury track record.
Ask for a specific number: how many treasury relocation or setup projects has this team actually completed at GIFT City, not a general statement of capability.
2. Does the advisor actually have people permanently based at GIFT City, or does it fly in for engagements?
A jurisdiction this specialized, with its own regulator and its own evolving rules, tends to reward advisors who are physically and continuously present, not occasional visitors.
Our reading: this is a specific, fair thing to ask, given at least one competitor names a dedicated, GIFT-City-based team as a distinguishing feature of its own offer.
Ask whether the team advising you is permanently based at GIFT City, or travels in for each engagement.
3. Does the tax benefit survive contact with your actual, specific treasury activities?
The tax incentives are real and substantial, but they're tied to a defined list of permissible activities under the Global/Regional Corporate Treasury Centre framework — not a blanket exemption for anything called "treasury."
Our reading: the permissible activity list is specific — cash pooling, intra-group financing, FX and derivatives, credit facilities, and similar defined functions. A company whose treasury does something outside that defined list needs to know that clearly before assuming the full tax benefit applies.
Ask for a specific mapping of your company's actual treasury activities against the defined list of permissible GRCTC activities — not a general assurance that "treasury operations qualify."
4. What happens if the March 2030 deadline is missed?
This isn't an open-ended incentive — the extended tax holiday is tied to a real cutoff for when qualifying operations must begin.
Our reading: this deadline pressure is real and worth taking seriously in planning, but it also means a rushed, poorly structured move to beat the deadline could cost more in mistakes than it saves in incentive.
Ask for a realistic project timeline that comfortably beats the deadline, not an optimistic one that leaves no room for delay.
5. Is GIFT City's ecosystem — banking, legal, talent — actually mature enough for your treasury's specific scale?
Tax incentives are only part of the picture. A treasury function needs banking relationships, legal counsel, and skilled people physically available where it operates.
Our take: GIFT City's ecosystem has grown substantially and now includes IFSC Banking Units from major domestic and foreign banks — but whether it's mature enough for a treasury of your specific size and complexity is a fair, honest question rather than an assumed yes.
Ask for a reference client at a similar treasury scale to your own, already operating at GIFT City, not a general description of the ecosystem's growth.
Where it fits
A company with genuine, well-defined treasury activities that map cleanly onto the permissible GRCTC list, with a long enough planning horizon to benefit from a 20-year-plus tax incentive, and enough lead time to move comfortably before the March 2030 deadline.
Where it does not fit
A company expecting an open-ended, blanket tax benefit regardless of activity type, or one needing an advisory partner with an already-proven, heavily documented track record at this specific jurisdiction rather than an emerging one.
FAQs
Is GIFT City's tax incentive real, or a marketing claim?
Real — it's backed by an actual 2026 budget change extending the holiday period, not a vendor's own promotional framing.Is the documentation gap specific to BDO?
Not entirely — several advisory firms are still building out their specific GIFT City track record; it's simply that at least one competitor has already published a specific number, which raises the bar for what a fair comparison looks like.What's the one thing most CFOs forget to check?
Whether their company's specific treasury activities fall inside the defined list of permissible GRCTC functions — assuming "treasury" is one blanket category, when it isn't, is where relocation plans often run into trouble later.
This is a piece of opinion — our reading of what buyers should ask, based on public material available as of the date noted above. It is not a statement of fact about any company. No company mentioned pays for the mention. Any company named here can write to hello@analystlayer.com; we respond within three working days and update the piece where the input is factual, with the update dated on this page.