In an interview with Reinsurance News, Sarbvir Singh, CEO of PB Fintech United Group, emphasized that a more open and predictable regulatory environment is attracting global reinsurance companies to settle in India’s first International Financial Services Center (IFSC)-Gujarat International Financial Technology City (GIFT City).
GIFT City’s insurance and reinsurance business volumes are growing rapidly, from $102 million in 2020 to $1.2 billion in 2025, driven primarily by the non-life insurance and reinsurance segment.
This growth marks a more than 11-fold increase over the past five years and marks a strong expansion in underwriting of India-related risks within the IFSC. The center’s roster of participants now includes global reinsurers and brokers from Europe, Australia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Additionally, the IFSC recently reported that the total number of registrations and authorizations increased to 1,213 in March 2026, compared with 1,114 in December 2025, highlighting continued expansion.
According to the regulator, the insurance sector is experiencing strong growth. Insurance offices (IIOs), which are insurance entities licensed to underwrite or provide international insurance services, will increase from 24 in December 2025 to 36 in March 2026. IIIOs, which facilitate cross-border insurance brokerage and intermediary services, also increased from 31 to 34 in the quarter.
Meanwhile, reinsurance and direct insurance activity reported strong quarterly growth. Total direct insurance premiums generated by IIO increased to $15.38 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025-26 from $9.25 million in the previous quarter. Gross reinsurance premiums increased from US$148.13 million to US$186.93 million during the same period.
“Navigating the Indian reinsurance market has not been the easiest task over the years. Jurisdictional challenges, entry barriers and non-convertibility of the rupee have given India a potential that the world could see but never fully exploited. Today, GIFT City becomes India’s clear answer to global offshore financial centers such as Singapore, Dubai and London. A unified regulatory framework under IFSCA is able to address onshore complexities and invite global participation,” Singh said.
He went on to explain that a key factor behind this momentum is the clarity provided by IFSCA. “By bringing regulation under a single, internationally consistent framework, GIFT City makes market access simpler for global companies.
“The policy environment has also changed meaningfully. While the onshore insurance industry has historically been subject to foreign ownership restrictions, GIFT City allows 100% foreign direct investment in insurance and reinsurance entities. This gives Global Reinsurers complete control over their operations, allowing them to bring in their underwriting expertise, risk models and governance frameworks without compromise. For Global Reinsurers’ boards, the ability to maintain total ownership while entering one of the world’s fastest growing insurance markets makes the GIFT City route an irresistible proposition for long-term growth.”
On the tax front, Singh pointed out that under Section 80LA of the Income Tax Act, IFSC units enjoy 100% tax exemption for 10 consecutive years within a 15-year window.
“This provides a clear and efficient structure for deploying capital. At the same time, recent policy signals indicate that we will continue to focus on extending tax certainty over the longer term, thereby strengthening GIFT City’s position as a competitive international financial centre,” he said.
In addition to a more open and predictable regulatory environment, Singh also highlighted improvements in capital efficiency driven by IFSCA’s efforts to open doors to unlock trapped capital as a challenge for global financial institutions operating across geographies, which he said would be a long-term detriment to reinsurers targeting the Indian market.
He explained: “By allowing IFSC insurers to operate in compliance with the solvency standards of their home regulator, whether that is the UK Prudential Regulation Authority or the Monetary Authority of Singapore, GIFT City Allowing multinationals to tap into their existing pools of international capital. This makes it simpler to underwrite high-value regional risks without having to maintain separate capital reserves. The cost of capital is the ultimate competitive advantage for the industry, so this creates a trickle-down effect and reduces operating costs.”
In the past, the onshore insurance industry in India was somewhat constrained by ownership caps, with many global insurers forming joint ventures to enter the market. However, GIFT City opens another new door to 100% foreign direct investment, enabling global players to have strategic and operational control.
“This allows them to bring home global best practices, a self-operated underwriting model and flexible corporate governance. Not to mention, the much-talked-about 10-year tax holiday further sweetens the deal, creating a tax-neutral environment where 100% of profits can be reinvested or repatriated globally,” said Singh.
“Much of the recent influx of global heavyweights can be attributed to this seamless route to GIFT City. Reinsurers are now able to set up a fully owned, tax-efficient global center that can operate like an extension of their headquarters, but can take advantage of what the Indian market has to offer. For a board in Paris or New York, the ability to maintain full ownership while entering one of the fastest growing insurance markets in the world makes the GIFT City route an irresistible proposition for long-term growth,” he added.
Given the new operating environment for insurance companies and reinsurers, and supported by the ease of entry highlighted by Singh, “GIFT City is attracting global reinsurance capital on a large scale,” which will ultimately increase the risk tolerance of domestic insurance companies.
“This added depth enables clearer underwriting, better risk segmentation and more accurate pricing, particularly for market segments that have long been in the ‘missing middle’. With progressive policy support and a steady inflow of global best practices, GIFT City is making the transition from capacity-constrained to capital-rich.
“As global reinsurance capital becomes more accessible and cheaper to deploy through GIFT City, insurers can gain greater capacity and more sophisticated risk management. Over time, this will translate into more competitive premiums, especially in complex or under-penetrated market segments,” said Singh.
Singh expects that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambition to develop GIFT City into a premier global destination, the focus will be on building an ecosystem that can handle complex risk innovation.
“IFSCA has become a bridge between Western capital and the countries of the South,” he said. “The future holds huge potential in new areas such as cyber or climate risk and specialty protection. The integration of insurtech is providing a framework for more transparent and technology-driven underwriting and product innovation.
“Be it the Middle East or Africa, global reinsurers are converging on this square mile in Gujarat. The reason is that GIFT City combines a business-friendly regulatory environment with India’s vast talent pool. As the number of multinationals in India increases, GIFT City will serve as a stabilizer for borderless, resilient economic growth over the next decade.”
