Mumbai, Aug. 27 -- While Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or Gift City, is attracting growing interest from Indian investors seeking access to global markets, getting foreign investors and financial firms to set up operations remains a challenge for India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), partly due to stricter reporting requirements.

Gift City saw the number of Global Access Providers (GAPs)-intermediaries that enable investors to invest and trade stocks listed on overseas exchanges-rise to 18 by July, from just a handful a year ago, according to the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

Meanwhile, the number of investors using GAPs through India International Exchange (IFSC) Ltd, or I...