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ECONOMY

At the Singapore Symposium 2019 (above from left): l Singapore’s then Minister for Home Affairs and Law, Mr K Shanmugam and currently Senior
Minister, urged India to embark on greater economic cooperation with ASEAN. l Mr Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways;

and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India and Mr S Iswaran, Hon’ble Minister for Communications and Information &
Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Singapore speaking at the session ‘India and Singapore: Partners in a Connected World’. l Dr. S Jaishankar, Minister

of External Affairs, Government of India at the 12th India – Singapore Strategic Dialogue with Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman,

S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University; and Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

with Rustomjee Group to build a 54-hectare ies) and the presence of a large Indian India and Singapore continue to engage
township in Mumbai-Thane area. Capital- diaspora, Singapore is emerging as a key on several fronts to continue to cement
and-Ascendas, Singbridge and Mapletree offshore hub for corporate India. The In- their relationship and to jointly work to-
are making signifificant investments in the dian corporate presence in Singapore has gether to bring the benefits that accrue
logistics sector. also grown significantly and there are to the larger ASEAN region— be it with
about 9,000 “Indian” companies regis- regard to greater economic and trade
Major Players from India tered in Singapore. ties as discussed at the Singapore Sym-
posium 2019 on the issue of ‘India’s En-
For the period, Jan 2019 to November 2019, Among them include six PSU (Indian Pub- gagement with a Fast- Growing ASEAN’,
US$3.2 billion was the total outward FDI lic Sector Undertaking or Enterprise), nine or the spin-off from India’s participation
to Singapore with financial, insurance and banks, India Tourism, CII, FICCI, Air India, in Asia’s premier International Maritime
business services, wholesale, retail trade, Jet Airways have their offices in Singa- Defence Exhibition & Conference (IM-
restaurants and hotels and construction pore. DEX) ASIA at the Singapore Maritime
being some of the top investment sectors. Expo or India’s Minister of External Af-
Tata Steel is the top investor with an invest- More than 440 companies from Singa- fairs Dr S Jainshankar’s focus on the 12th
ment figure of US$1.7 billion. pore are registered in India. 2 banks, En- India- Singapore Strategic Dialogue.
terprise Singapore (ES), Economic De-
Over 80 % of listed offshore bonds by In- velopment Board (EDB) and Singapore Indian High Commissioner to Singapore
dian issuers are listed on the Singapore Ex- Tourism Board have their offices in India. HE Jawed Ashraf hosted a round table to
change (SGX). Singapore-based investors which were invited 30 senior-most and
have Assets Under Management (AUM) val- The India-Singapore CEO Forum was most prominent CEOs from Singapore.
ued at over US$100 billion in India. Temas- launched in November 2018. DBS Bank It proved to be an excellent occasion for
ek Holding, a Singapore Government Fund, announced the launch of its locally incor- a free and frank interaction between the
has invested US$400 million in the National porated subsidiary, DBS Bank India (DBIL) Prime Minister and the CEOs who rep-
Infrastructure Investment Fund of India in in March 2019. resented different sectors such as agri-
2018, following the announcement during culture, agro-processing, water, urban
PM Modi’s 2018 visit. At the time of PM Narendra Modi’s official infrastructure management, port and
visit to Singapore in November 2015, a airport management. The round table
Indian companies are increasingly using joint declaration was signed between the kicked off with the Prime Minister him-
Singapore for raising funds, particularly two nations which elevated India- Singa- self seeking the views of these top CEOs,
for global operations. At least nine Indian pore relations to a Strategic Partnership. many of whom have already invested in
banks are operating in Singapore, this in- PM Modi invited Singapore companies in India, Singapore is India’s largest inves-
cludes Bank of India, Indian Overseas a bigger way and assured them that the tor with $63 billion. Immense apprecia-
Bank, UCO Bank, Indian Bank, Axis Bank, Government was committed to making tion was expressed by the CEOs over the
State Bank of India, ICICI, EXIM Bank and it easier to do business in India and de- number of reforms that he has taken
Bank of Baroda. scribed Singapore as “Incubator to India’s personally, which had, in fact, made a
laboratory” for India’s new goal to turn it- marked difference in the ease of doing
Both SBI and ICICI have been granted self into a Global Manufacturing Hub. business in India
Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) status with re-
tail operations. Given the positive enabling The conclusion of the ASEAN-INDIA Free At the Singapore Symposium August,
environment provided by Singapore and Trade Agreement (AIFTA) in Trades in 2019 with the theme ‘India’s Engage-
its competitive tax regime it’s no surprise Goods (TIG) in 2009 also helped in boost- ment with a Fast- Growing ASEAN’, Sin-
that its encouraging Indian companies to ing India’s economic and commercial ties gapore’s then Minister for Home Affairs
set up both manufacturing and servicing with Singapore. India’s imports from Sin- and Law, Mr K Shanmugam, urged India,
operations in Singapore and also base their gapore in FY 18-19 were US$16.28 billion who is the regional grouping’s seventh
regional headquarters for the Asia Pacific and exports from India US$11.57 billion. largest trading partner, to embark on
regional operations here. Bilateral trade in FY 2019-20 (till Decem- greater economic cooperation.
ber 2019) was US$17.9 billion with exports
With the strong air connectivity (15-16 cit- to Singapore constituting US$7.1 billion. Shikhar Vol. 2 No. 2 2020 13