- Singapore plans $4.6B investment in India in manufacturing, green energy, logistics, and sustainability.
- Ten MoUs in tech, skills, health, connectivity, and space expected at 3rd ISMR.
- Singapore’s investment in India totals $159B over the past decade.
Singapore is anticipated to unveil a range of new investments in India, as the Southeast Asian country further intensifies its economic ties with India, focusing mainly on advanced manufacturing, green energy exports, logistics, skill development, connectivity, and sustainability. This encompasses the $4.6 billion funding.
Diplomatic sources informed ThePrint that approximately 10 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are under negotiation in areas such as advanced technologies, skills training, digitalization, health, connectivity, and sustainability, expected to be finalized at the third India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) prior to a potential visit by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong early next month.
The ISMR will take place on Wednesday, where External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Electronics and IT, are scheduled to meet a six-member ministerial delegation from Singapore headed by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, Gan Kim Yong.
The arrival of the Singaporean delegation is important as it occurs amid the worldwide upheaval in trade triggered by US President Donald J. Trump with his mutual tariffs. Although Singapore maintains a baseline tariff of 10 percent, Trump has implemented tariffs as high as 50 percent on India, which includes a penalty charge due to New Delhi’s ongoing acquisition of Russian oil.
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Diplomatic sources suggest that India is a significant economic partner for Singapore, even with the current reshaping of the global trade landscape, as the nation has invested around $159 billion in the South Asian nation over the past ten years. The ISMR is also expected to conclude the framework for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) that India and Singapore announced last year.
Singapore has significantly invested in India's logistics sector, with Deputy Prime Minister Yong visiting two major investments in Mumbai made by Singaporean firms on Tuesday. He toured PSA's Bharat Mumbai container terminal in Navi Mumbai. The PSA initiative in Navi Mumbai has attracted an investment of about $1.7 billion from the Singaporean firm, enabling the container terminal to ultimately manage 50 percent of the port's total capacity.
Collaboration in the supply chain of cutting-edge technologies is anticipated to be a crucial area for dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Wong next month, as the ISMR aims to finalize the structure of these discussions. The final round of the ISMR in 2024 confirmed that advanced manufacturing, particularly in semiconductors, will be a vital foundation for the relationship between the two nations.
In addition to advanced manufacturing, Singapore is eager to invest in green energy ports in India. At present, a company from Singapore has invested in the Thoothukudi port in Tamil Nadu, and an additional MoU was signed with the Odisha Government earlier this year in the same field. Another sector expected to appear in the ISMR’s agreements in anticipation of Prime Minister Wong’s visit includes space, a diplomatic source emphasized.