The Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) is preparing the ground for large-scale investments by opening its doors to a new kind of business: family offices, investment funds, and the professional fund managers who run them. From October 1, these businesses can be set up in GMC under a new set of rules designed to be simple to follow and quick to implement, a statement from the GMC Authority said.
“The capital this industry brings in is meant to work for Bhutan, funding entrepreneurship, innovation and the infrastructure our people need, while creating high-value careers here at home,” he added.
“India is one of six jurisdictions the GFSO recognises for fund management. That means an Indian-licensed manager (including those in the GIFT City) – a SEBI-registered AIF manager, a PMS – can manage a GMC-domiciled fund without applying for a separate GMC licence. They file four weeks ahead of activity, and the GFSO has committed to responding within four weeks. We are in active conversation with Indian family offices and fund managers, but it would not be right to name anyone before they have decided and before they have cleared us to do so. Firms across financial services and digital assets already hold GMC licences or in-principle approvals, and we expect to be able to say more about the asset and wealth management side in the coming months. A new jurisdiction is judged on the quality of its first cohort, not its size – the firms that come in the first year set the standard for everyone who follows.
For Indian family offices, the entry point is US$10 million in assets under management, tested once at the point of application, with no requirement to deploy capital into local projects,” a spokesperson for the GMC Authority said. When asked if any Indian business houses, family offices and investment funds moved in on this initiative, a spokesperson for the GMC authority said, “The framework opens for applications on 1 October. Our threshold is the one in the Guidelines: US$10 million to qualify, US$50 million for capital-intensive strategies.”
On the question about whether there is a specific amount or a number that the GMC and GFSO are looking at when it comes to Indian family offices and investment funds, the spokesperson said, “We have deliberately not set an AUM or entity-count target.
