MUMBAI: Recently the Bank of America leased around 4 lakh sq ft of office space from the Savvy Group in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift-City), said two people with direct knowledge of the development. This deal is one of the largest commercial real estate transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

 Earlier the American multinational investment bank and financial services company booked 1 lakh sq ft but then took the decision to extend it by an additional 3 lakh sq ft now. This space acquires 14 floors of a 24-story building that counts International Financial Services Centres Authority and Sequel Logistics as other key tenants.

 BA Continuum India, Bank of America’s India subsidiary, has leased the space. This lease is for 15 years, with an agreement that involves a rental reset clause after every three years.

One of the source persons mentioned “The transaction has been approved by the SEZ Authority and was inked last week. The bank had earlier finalized around 1 lakh sq ft space in this building and has now concluded with a total of nearly 4 lakh sq ft. This is the fastest and biggest expansion decision by the bank during the pandemic”.

 Before the outbreak of the pandemic, the bank’s Global Business Services Center had leased some space in the building.

 The place is expected to accommodate more than 3,000 employees serving its global subsidiaries.

 Most of these employees will be freshly hired.

 Around 1,200 of BA Continuum India’s employees were expected to be working from this building earlier.

 Savvy Group’s Chairman & Managing Director Jaxay Shah refused to comment for the story.

 BA Continuum India started in 2004; currently, they are operating out of four Indian cities — Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Gurgaon. They have more than 20,000 employees.

 In India, Gift City is the first operational International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). 

 IFSCs is intended to offer companies easier access to global financial markets. They are also intended to complement and promote the development of financial markets in the country.

18 IT and IT-enabled services companies have applied for setting up units at the Gift City’s multi-services SEZ according to reports.

 The entities setting up operations in the Gift City will be eligible for a tax holiday for 10 years consecutively. Besides that, there are no goods & services tax, stamp duty & registration charges. Additional benefits from the Gujarat government involve a capital investment subsidy up to 25% and a rental subsidy of Rs 3-8 per sq ft a month can also be availed.