Shutterstock/Chombosan. All rights reserved.On a scorching day in May we made our way to the much publicised GIFT (Gujarat International Financial Tech-city). Anticipation was building as we turned the car off the main highway into a byroad dotted with signs announcing the arrival of GIFT. One of my fellow visitors, who had secured an invitation to a corporate presentation in GIFT city, remarked how the landscape looked similar to Dubai: clean pavements without rubbish, manicured lawns, mature trees that did not grow natively in the region, and a general absence of people on the roads.
There was a reason for that last observation – GIFT was not yet complete. All it had to speak for its ‘smartness’ was an artificially created landscape that led visitors to a newly completed set of twin towers. That and its gate, where we were stopped to identify ourselves to the security guards.
The ‘first’ smart city
GIFT has been widely reported as the first smart city in India – apparently a model for the country’s 100 smart cities slated to be built over the next few years. The city is the brainchild of India’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited Shenzhen in 2006 and was inspired by Chinese urbanization. GIFT was born out of a desire to create a global financial centre which would tap into India’s ‘unlocked potential’, attracting foreign investment in Gujarat. GIFT is India’s answer to Shenzhen, and Gujarat’s answer to Mumbai.
