Is GIFT City's tax advantage for holding structures overstated?

Units set up in GIFT City's International Financial Services Centre can claim a 100% profit-linked deduction for 10 out of the first 15 years under Section 80LA — a genuinely significant benefit, not marketing exaggeration. But eligibility is tied to specific categories of activity, largely financial services, fund management, and related IFSC-permitted business lines.

For a company whose core activity isn't in one of those eligible categories, GIFT City isn't a like-for-like alternative to an offshore holding jurisdiction — it solves a different problem (an onshore, tax-efficient base for specific financial activities) rather than the capital-gains/dividend treaty planning that Mauritius, Singapore, or UAE structures address.