HSBC revolves around the India hub called GIFT City, a low-tax centre that in some ways is trying to get a piece of the pie from rival places such as Dubai and Singapore. At stake are the large flows of wealth held by Indians living overseas.

HSBC is reportedly testing new products and services to help win a larger share of business from India’s affluent diaspora. Last year, this population cohort sent more than $100 billion back home, according to Bloomberg.

The UK/Hong Kong-listed bank plans to offer dollar-denominated products to non-residents from India’s low-tax financial hub – Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City – the newswire reported, quoting unnamed sources.

The offerings in GIFT City could include savings accounts, insurance, fixed income and other investment products, the report said.

Metaverse
HSBC also opened a virtual experience centre in the metaverse for non-resident Indians this month. The metaverse, accessed through virtual reality headsets or QR codes on smartphones, allows customers to have their own avatars and explore credit cards, banking products and investments, the report said.

In 2022, the bank launched a fund – Metaverse Discretionary Strategy Portfolio – to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse for its wealthy clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

HSBC declined to comment to this publication about the story.

As the newswire story noted, more than 32 million Indians, often affluent, reside outside the country. According to figures from the Ministry of Finance in India, remittances to India from non-residents reached $112.5 billion in the 2023 financial year, the report said.

Banks are turning to GIFT City, to build out their offerings to non-residents. GIFT City is to some extent a way for India to compete with financial centres such as Dubai and Singapore, both important hubs used by non-resident Indians.

To see a related article about the rise of India's HNW population, click here. The country is also home to an increasing number of family offices, as reported here.
 
Earlier in 2024, this news service spoke to Simon Hopkins, CEO and founder of Milltrust International [Group], who reflected on the rising profile of India's GIFT City as a hub, among other topics.