Kshitij Anand: We have heard that GIFT City is India's gateway to global investing. So, what role is GIFT City playing in bringing the foreign capital?

Kshitij Anand: I use this term whenever I am doing any GIFT City-related podcast: going from desi to videsi.

Kshitij Anand: Where your money travels the globe and you are there where you are, but then your money travels the globe and makes more money for you. Let me also get your perspective on the fact that global investing is primarily about returns, diversification, or currency, which you are seeing right now, or access to businesses or sectors that are not necessarily available here in India, such as AI, semiconductors, and so on and so forth. So, how does the story unfold on that?

Kshitij Anand: Valid point there. In fact, in the recent past, or especially in the last 6 to 12 months, we have seen a lot of money getting poured into some of the companies which are directly dealing with AI or semiconductors, and now media reports, or the noise on the street, suggest that valuations have also been stretched at this point in time. So, how should investors take that with a pinch of salt, or maybe look at some more sectors which are more upcoming or mushrooming at this point in time?

Kshitij Anand: We have talked about stocks. In fact, I was having this conversation yesterday with one of my dear friends, whom I met after 25 years, and he is also globally invested, or invested in the US, and he said that I am better off investing, let us say, in a Vanguard or BlackRock ETF. So, not going specific to the names, but yes, how does ETF investing usually work for investors here in India?

Kshitij Anand: In fact, good that you touched upon the part on different countries. So, apart from the US, which are the other countries which investors can look at if they are looking to diversify beyond Indian borders?

Kshitij Anand: In fact, on a separate topic related to this only, one of the comments which I saw was the fact that someone in the Gulf wanted to invest in the US, and he was asking whether this platform would help him invest, let us say, in the US if he is in a Gulf country.

Kshitij Anand: How the Indian psychology usually works is the fact that, I have X amount of money in Indian markets, and if I want to diversify, what should be the ideal portfolio mix that I should be looking at, just to make sure that everything is hedged or protected, or at least my portfolio is not that vulnerable to external shocks?

Kshitij Anand: So, the corpus can grow.

Kshitij Anand: Also, is the IFSCA structure different from the structure that we have here from a regulatory point of view?

Kshitij Anand: Now that we are talking about the IFSCA, I also wanted to get your perspective as to how a human, or how an Indian investor's psychology, works. How is it protecting me? So, in case something does happen, what is the kind of safety net I have?

Kshitij Anand: A lot of people have now started to invest beyond the borders. What are the frictions that you see or come across? Is it the documentation, KYC, or taxation which usually acts as a hurdle if you propose, acha aap bahar kyo nahi lagate hai, and they say, documentation bahut hai ya taxation bahut hai ya woh bahut complicated ho jayega. Do you also hear these kinds of frictions usually, and what are the common ones?

Kshitij Anand: But there is a popular misconception that if we are going through GIFT City, it eliminates currency risk. Is that fact or fiction?

Kshitij Anand: Valid point there, and we have seen the currency depreciating more often than the currency appreciating…

Kshitij Anand: Also, what role does Mirae Asset play in making sure that investors have a smooth journey and connecting the globe to their domestic portfolio?

Kshitij Anand: So, fractional investment is something which is there in the US and not so much here in India, but I am sure a lot of investors would want to own MRF in the fractional investment form, but it is not exactly available at this point in time. But yes, if you can just help investors understand what fractional ownership is all about.

Kshitij Anand: And just to add, the names are just for reference and not a buy or sell recommendation. So, I add that disclaimer to the podcast. So, there is also this fear, or you could say thought, in every investor's mind that for global investing there should be a big portfolio. It is like that—we have to have a crore-plus portfolio, then it makes sense. So, if someone says that, okay, I have Rs 25,000-30,000, maximum Rs 50,000, can I start global investing with that?

Kshitij Anand: And finally, largely on the GIFT City landscape, I mean, GIFT-IFSC is increasingly attracting fund management and private wealth structures as well. So, could GIFT become an access point for Indian investors to global private equity, venture capital, private credit funds or alternatives?

Kshitij Anand: Yes, because leasing has also picked up recently.