India, Oct. 9 -- My fascination with GIFT City mirrors that of policymakers, bankers, and the media-everyone's watching India's only global financial hub. Conceived in 2007 by then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as India's answer to Singapore and Dubai, it has been nearly two decades in the making. I last visited Gift City for the very first time, a decade ago.

This time around, I was keen to see if the "planned city of the future" had finally lived up to its vision.

A few aspects really stood out. Twenty-five towers are buzzing with offices, another thirty-five are rising. The momentum is not just in steel and glass. Close to a thousand entities are registered in GIFT IFSC, banking assets have touched ninety-four billion dollars and are inch...