GIFT City plans public multi-sport arena with two padel courts

GIFT City is turning padel into part of its urban pitch, not just an add-on. The planned public multi-sport arena in the domestic zone will include two padel courts alongside eight pickleball courts, box football, two box cricket pitches and other amenities, with the facility expected to be operational by September 2026.

The buildout matters because the city is not framing this as a private club. Officials have said the arena will be open to residents and employees, a signal that the courts are meant to serve the daily rhythm of a mixed-use business district rather than a gated sporting enclave. In a place built around the walk-to-work model, that distinction is crucial: for padel to stick, it needs after-hours traffic from office towers, apartments and local families, not only one-off bookings.

The broader arena footprint was reported at 2.5 acres in December 2025, when several bidders had already submitted proposals. The latest design adds a volleyball court, a jogging track, an outdoor gym, a café and a multipurpose event venue, giving GIFT City a format that can host leagues, company outings and weekend programming rather than only casual court use. That mix is what could turn two courts from a token inclusion into a scalable pattern for other Indian developers watching how premium urban districts are built.

Sanjay Kaul, managing director and group CEO of GIFT City, linked the project to the city’s wider ambition of balancing economic growth with quality of life. That framing fits the numbers GIFT City has been using to sell itself as India’s first operational smart city and International Financial Services Centre, with more than 1,000 entities operational, over 20,000 jobs generated and more than 29 million square feet allotted as of September 2025.

The sports push is arriving alongside another leisure investment. In June 2026, GIFT City announced a technology-enabled golf entertainment destination with The Sports Gurukul and OneGolf, spanning 84,744 square feet with a 350-foot driving range and 20 golf bays, due in early January 2027. Savvy Group chairman and managing director Jaxay Shah said his firm was honored to build what it called the first dedicated sports arena in GIFT City, underscoring how the district is using recreation to strengthen its case as a place to live, play and connect. If the padel courts land with corporate users, residents and event programming, they could become the template for the next phase of India’s urban sports market.