GIFT City’s Residential Turning Point

For a long time, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) featured in policy conversations rather than in everyday life. It was conceived as India’s answer to global financial a fully planned International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) designed to host banks, insurers, fund managers, fintech, and aviation lessors in one integrated, incentives-backed ecosystem. That vision is steadily converting into reality.

Recent data from the Government shows that GIFT IFSC now hosts over 1,034 registered entities and 38 banks with a combined asset base of about US$100.14 billion. (PIB) The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) highlights another layer: 27 aircraft lessors managing 159 aviation assets out of GIFT IFSC as of September 2024. The financial engine is clearly in motion. The next story emerging is: how people will live here.

A New Housing Psychology Is Shaping Demand

To understand why GIFT City’s residential story matters now, it helps to look at how Indian homebuyers have changed.

ANAROCK’s Homebuyer Sentiment Survey H1 2025 shows a decisive shift up the value curve: 36 per cent of respondents now prefer homes priced between ₹90 lakh and ₹1.5 crore, compared to 18 per cent pre-COVID. The preference for this price range has emerged as the focal point of serious urban buyers.

NRIs are reinforcing this trend. Press reports note that NRIs invested about US$13 billion in Indian real estate in 2023, with another US$3.1 billion flowing in during the first half of 2024 alone. (The Economic Times) Developers expect this appetite to strengthen further, driven by currency advantages, portfolio diversification, and a desire to return to well-planned urban environments.

The buyer emerging from this data is clear: income-secure, value-conscious, impatient with compromise, and more attentive to quality of life than earlier cohorts. This is the kind of buyer GIFT City attracts almost by design.

From Financial Blueprint to A Liveable District

On the supply side, GIFT City’s macro numbers signal a maturing ecosystem. Government and regulator data together show a landscape of banks, global insurers, fund management entities, brokers, fintech innovators, and aviation lessors occupying a campus of roughly 1,000 operational acres, with notified plans that extend to over 3,300 acres, including SEZ and Domestic Tariff Area zones. (Press Information Bureau)

In parallel, India’s broader real estate story offers perspective. A joint CREDAI–Colliers report estimates that the sector could reach US$5–10 trillion by 2047, making it one of the world’s largest real estate markets by value. (The Times of India) Within that arc, planned business districts like GIFT City occupy a privileged position: they combine regulatory clarity with high-quality infrastructure, access to talent, and strategic signalling from the state.

However, many professionals working in GIFT City still live in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar and commute in, because the stock of homes inside the district that meet their expectations is only now beginning to scale. As seen earlier in Gurugram, Powai or Bandra-Kurla, this kind of sequencing usually precedes a powerful residential catch-up phase. That is the context in which Prana enters the conversation.

Prana: A Vertical Community in a Financial City

Prana positions itself as one of the first wellness-centred residential communities in GIFT City, rather than a typical tower in a financial zone.

The project comprises two residential towers with around 696 homes, spanning studios, 1BHK and 2BHK configurations, aimed squarely at the mid-premium band that India’s buyers are gravitating towards. Possession is projected for December 2028, which aligns with the period when GIFT City’s residential base is likely to deepen and stabilise.

The design philosophy locates Prana as a “vertical neighbourhood” – podium-level gardens, family courtyards, co-working lounges that speak to a hybrid work culture, wellness decks, meditation areas, children’s zones, and rooftop spaces. The intent is to create a self-contained ecosystem that matches the smart-city language outside the gates.

Carbon Neutrality and Wellness as Built-In Architecture

Prana’s 100% carbon-neutral home promise is unusual in the Indian residential context and a first within GIFT City. Rather than a label, it appears in the design logic. Green balconies, biophilic edges, and natural ventilation pathways lower heat load and keep residents connected to nature. Daylit planning reduces reliance on artificial lighting, interiors use low-toxicity materials, and structured water systems improve quality before consumption. The idea is simple: minimise environmental impact through design choices.

Wellness flows through the same philosophy. Instead of clubhouses stacked with amenities, everyday spaces — podium gardens, walking loops, terraces, and children’s courts — become places where movement, pause, and contact happen naturally. Co-working lounges, recovery spaces, and meditation corners acknowledge shifting work rhythms and the need for decompression.

In doing so, Prana translates sustainability and wellbeing from marketing language into everyday infrastructure, signalling how future housing in GIFT City may be experienced rather than merely owned.

Who Is Behind Prana?

In an emerging residential market like GIFT City, a developer’s track record matters almost as much as the product. Prana is developed by Nila Group, a Gujarat-based builder with more than 35 years in operation, experience across 75+ completed projects, and over 26,000 delivered housing units, as reflected in its corporate disclosures and RERA filings.

For investors, these numbers signal familiarity with large-scale construction, municipal approvals, and phased delivery cycles. This is reassuring in a market where buyers often look for execution memory before committing capital.

Reading The Bigger Picture

The GIFT City–Prana story mirrors broader shifts in India’s urban arc. CREDAI–Colliers estimates that Indian real estate could reach US$5–10 trillion by 2047, powered by rising incomes and service-led growth.

Prana becomes a microcosm of this momentum, built for the mid-premium segment identified as India’s fastest-growing buyer group, backed by a seasoned developer with execution history to match ambition.

For early movers, the opportunity here is less about speculative hype and more about recognising how well-planned financial centres tend to evolve: jobs first, then lifestyle, then identity. GIFT City has already crossed the first threshold and is stepping into the second. Residential projects that understand this sequence, like Prana, offer a way to participate in that evolution.

What feels clear, though, is that GIFT City’s residential chapter has begun in earnest. And in that chapter, Prana’s 100% carbon-neutral homes, wellness-first architecture, and community thinking offer an early glimpse of how living in India’s flagship financial city may look over the next decade.