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High Commission of India
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India - Singapore Relations Bilateral Relations

India - Singapore Relations

The close ties between India and Singapore have a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links across a millennium. The more modern relationship is attributed to Sir Stamford Raffles who, in 1819, established a trading station in Singapore on the route of the Straits of Malacca which later became a crown colony and governed from Kolkata till 1867. The colonial connection is reflected in institutions and practices, usage of English and presence of a large Indian community. India was one of the first countries to recognize Singapore in 1965.

2. India-Singapore relations are based on shared values and approaches, economic opportunities and convergence of interests on key issues. There are more than 20 regular bilateral mechanisms, dialogues and exercises. There is great convergence on a broad range of international issues and both are members of a number of forums, including East Asia Summit, G20, Commonwealth, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium).

3. A new high level Ministerial mechanism has been established to discuss the roadmap to take bilateral relations to a new level. The inaugural meeting of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) took place on 17 September 2022 in New Delhi. Four Senior Singapore Ministers travelled to India for this meeting- Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Transport and Trade Relations Mr. S. Iswaran, and Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Gan Kim Yong. From the India side, the delegation for the ISMR included – EAM, Finance Minister and Commerce and Industry Minister. The focus on the emerging areas such as digital connectivity, Fintech, green economy, green hydrogen, skill development and food productivity provided an ambitious roadmap for further enhancement of the Strategic Partnership between India and Singapore. DPM Wong and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong also met PM. On 18 September 2022, DPM Lawrence Wong visited Gujarat where he was hosted for lunch by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendra Patel.

4. Agreements concluded between India and Singapore reflect the growing overall cooperation, which provides a larger framework for activities between the two Governments, commercial and people-to-people exchanges. Key agreements include the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (2005) and its Second Review (2018), Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (1994, Protocols signed in 2011), Bilateral Air Services Agreement (1968, revised in 2013), Defence Cooperation Agreement (2003, enhanced Agreement signed in 2015), MOU on Foreign Office Consultations (1994), Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (2005), Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing (2018) and cooperation in Fintech (2018), Agreement for Conduct of Joint Army Training and Exercises (renewed in 2019) and FinTech Cooperation Agreement between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). There is a Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), chaired by EAM and FM of Singapore and Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) at the Secretary level. Last FOC was held in New Delhi between Secretary (East) and Second Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18 September 2023.

High Level Interactions

5. India and Singapore added new momentum and direction in the Strategic Partnership in 2018, anchored in the Official visit of PM Modi to Singapore from 31 May- 2 June and his second visit on 14-15 November for attending the ASEAN- India and RCEP and 13 th East Asia Summit. PM Modi became the first Indian PM to deliver keynote address at the annual Shangri La Dialogue on 01 June 2018. In November visit, he also became the first Head of Government to deliver the keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival, world’s largest Fintech event. Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong also visited India on 25-26 January 2018 to participate in the Republic Day Celebrations in New Delhi and co-chaired the 2018 ASEAN India Commemorative Summit (AICS).

6. On 30 October, 2021, PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with PM Lee on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Rome, Italy. This was their first in-person meeting in the post-pandemic period. On 16 November 2022, PM Modi and PM Lee met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali.

7. On 21 February 2023, the link between India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow was officially launched in the presence of PM Modi and PM Lee Hsien Loong, by RBI Governor Shri. Shaktikanta Das, and Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Managing Director, Mr. Ravi Menon. The PayNow-UPI linkage will offer cheaper, faster, and safer cross-border retail payments and remittances, for businesses and individuals alike, directly between bank accounts or e-wallets, using mobile phone number, UPI identity, or Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The PayNow-UPI linkage is India’s first cross-border real-time payment systems linkage, and Singapore’s second (first with Thailand’s PromptPay).

8. Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong visited New Delhi on 8-10 September 2023 to attend G20 Summit. Foreign Office Consultations were held between Shri Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) and Mr. Luke Goh, Second Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore on 18 September 2023.

Recent political engagements

Foreign Ministers

9. EAM visited Singapore from 16-20 November, 2021. During the visit he called on PM Lee and discussed the shared interests and convergent views between India and Singapore and the continuing efforts towards building an even stronger partnership. EAM also met ESM Goh Chok Tong, former SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Transport S. Iswaran, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong. EAM also spoke at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in a session on "Great Power Competition: The Emerging Word Order”. On 22 February, 2022 EAM met Singapore FM Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on the sidelines of the EU Ministerial Forum on Indo-Pacific.

10. FM Dr Vivian Balakrishnan visited India from 15 to 17 June 2022. He co- chaired the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) in New Delhi with EAM on 16 June 2022. He also participated in the Ministerial Session of the Delhi Dialogue XII. During the visit, FM Vivian called on PM Modi along with the other ASEAN Foreign Ministers and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi. He also met EAM, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, and Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw.

11. On 06 July 2022, EAM during a transit visit to Singapore enroute to Bali, met Singapore’s DPM and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, and Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen. On 04 August 2022, EAM co-chaired the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AIFMM) with Singapore FM Vivian Balakrishnan in Phnom Penh.

12. From 01-03 March 2023, FM Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan visited India to take part in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM). During the visit, he met EAM Dr S. Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Minister of Education and Minister of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan. They had wide ranging discussions on regional and global developments, as well as areas to enhance bilateral cooperation, including in capacity building and skills development. EAM and Singapore FM also met on 13 July 2023 on the sidelines of ASEAN-India, EAS and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta.

13. Foreign Office Consultation: On 19 August 2022, 16th India-Singapore Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) were held in Singapore led by Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Secretary(East), and Mr. Albert Chua, Permanent Secretary, MFA Singapore. During the FOC, the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction at the present level of engagements. Last FOC took place in New Delhi on 18 September 2023 between Shri Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) and Mr. Luke Goh, Second Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore. Other political engagements

14. On 28 July, 2021 Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry wrote to Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry, Singapore. He sought Singapore’s support to create consensus among ASEAN partners for announcing the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement review. On 15 January, 2022, Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health of Singapore, had a virtual conversation with Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

15. From 24-26 April, 2022, a 12 member Indian Parliamentary Delegation, led by Speaker (Lok Sabha), Om Birla, visited Singapore. Among the bilateral meetings, the delegation led by Speaker called on Mr. Tan Chuan-Jin (TCJ), Speaker, Parliament of Singapore. The delegation also called on Mr. Goh Chok Tong, Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) of Singapore. On 14 July 2022, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman met DPM and Finance Minister Mr. Lawrence Wong, on the sidelines of G20 Finance Ministers and Central bank Governors Meeting in Bali. On 01 September 2022, Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan held a discussion with Dr Maliki Osman Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Education & Foreign Affairs, Singapore, in Bali Indonesia.

16. On 24 September 2022, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal made a transit visit to Singapore. During the visit, the Minister held meetings with former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister & Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry. During the visit, he interacted with 20+ CEOs & Investors at a Business Roundtable.

17. On 05-06 December 2022, Hon’ble Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Rameswar Teli, as the head of delegation from India, visited Singapore to participate in the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of International Labour Organisation (ILO).

18. A delegation from State Government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Hon’ble Minister for Jal Shakti and Flood Control of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Swatantra Dev Singh visited Singapore from 15-19 December, 2022, ahead of the upcoming UP Global Investors Summit.

19. MoS Shri V. Muraleedharan visited Singapore on 20-21 February 2023. He held a bilateral meeting with Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Education & Foreign Affairs of Singapore, in which they had productive discussions on bilateral relations and other matters of mutual interest.

20. Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State (MOS) for External Affairs and Education visited Singapore from 18-20 May, 2023. During the visit, MOS met with Minister in the PMO and Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs H.E. Dr. Mohamed Maliki Osman. The two Ministers discussed the ongoing initiatives in bilateral cooperation, in particular, skill development and investments in the North East region. 

21. Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan visited Singapore from 29 – 31 May, 2023. During the visit, he met various key Ministers of Singaporean Govt including DPM & Minister of Finance Mr. Lawrence Wong, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Trade Mr. Gan Kim Yong.

22. From 24 to 26 April, 2022 Singapore’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Second Minister for Education Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman visited New Delhi to attend the 7 th Raisina Dialogue. Minister Maliki, accompanied by Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information Mr Tan Kiat How, met EAM, Minister for Education and Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur, and other prominent Indian personalities.

23. Former Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam made a working visit to India from 04 to 10 July 2022.In Delhi, Former SM Tharman delivered the inaugural Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture on 08 July 2022. He called on PM Modi and met with Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Finance, Minister of Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, EAM, and Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Minister of Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal.

24. Minister of State (MOS), Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development, Ms Sun Xueling attended the “3rd No Money for Terror” Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing from 18 to 19 November 2022 in New Delhi. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong visited Delhi from 26-29 November 2022. He attended the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Annual India Conference 2022. Chief Justice of Singapore Mr. Sundaresh Menon visited India to deliver the 1 st Annual Lecture at the 1 st Supreme Court of India Day Celebrations on the theme "Judiciary’s Role in a Changing World” on 28 January, 2023. During the visit, Chief Justice Menon met Hon’ble Chief Justice of India. He also called on Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji, where they exchanged views on how to ensure accessible justice for all, such as through greater outreach & better use of technology.

25. Former SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam visited Delhi from 02-05 March 2023 to participate in the Raisina Dialogue and Neemrana Conference. During the visit, he met Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong visited Delhi from 10-13 March 2023 to launch the India- Singapore Hackathon (SIH) 2023. DPM Lawrence Wong attended the 2023 Singapore-India Hackathon Awards Ceremony along with Union Minister of Education on 16 July 2023 in Gujarat. During the visit, he met EAM and had discussions on taking forward the ISMR. Minister Gan also met Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan. Minister Gan also spoke at the CII Partnership Summit alongside Shri. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles. Minister Gan also met Shri. R. K. Singh, Hon’ble Minister of Power, and EAM and discussed issues of bilateral interest.

G20 under India’s Presidency

26. Singapore was invited as Guest Country under India’s Presidency of G20 in 2023. As part of various Ministerial meetings, Mr. Lawrence Wong, DPM and Minister for Finance participated in G20 Finance Ministers’ Meeting on 15-18 July in Gandhinagar; Mr. Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Sustainability and Environment participated in Labour and Employment Ministers’ meeting on 15-18 July 2023 in Indore; Tan See Leng’s, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry participated inG20 Energy Ministers’ Meeting on 21-23 July in Goa; Ms Grace Fu. Minister for Sustainability and Environment participated in Environment and Climate Ministers' Meeting on 28 July 2023 in Chennai; Ms. Sun Xueling, Minister of State (Ministry of Social and Family Development, and Ministry of Home Affairs) participated in Ministerial Conference on Women's Empowerment on 2-4 August, 2023 in Gandhinagar;Health Minister Ong Ye Kung participated in Health Ministers’ Meeting on 17-19 August in Gandhinagar; and Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade & Industry participated in B20 India summit on 24-25 August in Jaipur. During their participation they also met with the Indian counterpart Minister. Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Hsien Loong participated in the G20 Summit in September 2023.

ECONOMY

25. Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN. It is the leading source of FDI, among the largest sources of External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Portfolio Investment.

26. Bilateral trade expanded after the conclusion of CECA from USD 6.7 billion in FY 2004-05 to USD 30.11 billion in 2021-22. Singapore is India’s 8 th largest trade partner. In the year 2022-23, bilateral trade reached USD 35.59 billion registering a growth of 18% over 2021-22, with USD 12 billion of exports to Singapore (7.5% growth), and USD 23.59 billion of imports from Singapore (24% growth).

27. Investment - FDI equity inflows in India from Singapore during 2021-22 stood at USD 15.87 billion. In 2020-21, despite COVID situation, Singapore was the largest source of FDI into India, with FDI inflows of USD 17.42 bn as compared to the USD 14.67 bn received in 2019-20. The cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore to India stood at USD 144.04 billion (April 2000 – December 2022) which is 23 percent of total FDI inflows in India. Singapore is also amongst the largest sources of External Commercial Borrowings for India and Foreign Portfolio Investment from Singapore has been extremely important for India. Top sectors attracting FDI Equity inflows from Singapore are: Services Sector, Computer Software & Hardware, Trading, Telecommunications and Drugs & Pharmaceuticals. The cumulative outward Indian FDI to Singapore stands at USD 83.46 billion (January 2008 – February 2023). The outward Indian FDI to Singapore stood at USD 4.18 billion (April 2022-February 2023), USD 7.18 billion (FY 2021-22) and USD 3.49 billion in 2020-21.

28. Among significant investments by Singapore, Temasek and Warburg Pincus bought shares worth USD 500 mn from existing investors of Ola in a secondary deal, in July 2021, Lenskart raised USD 220 million from Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital and, on 27 July ShareChat, Indian content sharing platform raised USD 145 mn in fresh funding from Temasek Holdings and two other investors.

29. More than 80 % of listed offshore bonds by Indian issuers are listed on Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). Singapore-based investors have Assets Under Management (AUM) valued at over USD 100 billion in India. Temasek Holding, a Singapore Government Fund, has invested USD 400 million in National Infrastructure Investment Fund of India in 2018. The Singapore sovereign fund’s India portfolio stands currently at USD13 billion.

30. About 9000 Indian companies are registered in Singapore. 6 PSUs, 9 banks, India Tourism, CII, FICCI, Air India, Jet Airways have their offices in Singapore. More than 440 companies from Singapore are registered in India. 2 banks,Enterprise Singapore (ES), Economic Development Board (EDB) and Singapore Tourism Board have their offices in India. The India-Singapore CEO Forum was launched in November 2018. DBS Bank announced the launch of its locally incorporated subsidiary, DBS Bank India (DBIL) in March 2019.

31. Speed up connectivity: The Air Services Agreement was revised in 2005 and MoU on bilateral air services arrangements was signed in 2013. Singapore is now directly connected to 15 Indian cities by 8 airlines with more than 500 weekly flights both ways. Vistara- a JV between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group - launched their first ever international flights from Singapore to Delhi and Mumbai in August 2019, while GoAir started their services from Bengaluru and Kolkata to Singapore in October 2019. In 2019, about 1.41 million Indian tourists visited Singapore, making India the third largest source in tourism for Singapore. The tourism arrivals in 2020 came to grinding halt due to pandemic. With global travel picking up pace in 2022, Singapore Tourism Board expects to receive between 4 and 6 million visitors. In the first half of 2022, Singapore clocked 1.5 million visitor arrivals, with India (219,000) again remaining the second highest source of visitors after Indonesia.

32. Skill development: Singapore is working with the Central and state Governments as well as Government organisations to establish skill development centres in various sectors. A World Class Skill Centre (WCSC) has been set in Delhi in 2013. During PM Lee’s visit in October 2016, MoUs on collaboration in fields of skill development and vocational Training were signed. A Centre of Excellence for Tourism Management was inaugurated in Udaipur during PM Lee’s visit. North East Skill Centre was inaugurated in Guwahati in March 2019, which was handed over by the ITE Education Services (ITEES) to the Assam Government, during former SM Tharman’s visit to Guwahati from 04 to 05 July 2022. A WCSC has also been setup in Odisha, with 6 ITE Professionals from Singapore working in it. Similar initiatives are being taken in Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. During the visit of PM Modi in May-June 2018, five agreements on skill development were concluded, including for future skills, and to set up first ever Indian Institute on Skills, as well as a string of National Trainers and Assessors Academies in India. MSDE has informally conveyed its ideas to the Singapore-India Partnership Office (SIPO) regarding National Skills University.

33. FinTech &Innovation: Cooperation in the areas of technology, innovation, fintech and startups have grown. In 2019. A Pilot demo of BHIM UPI QR based payments was launched in Singapore on 13 November during the 2019 Fintech Festival. Commercial and technical arrangements have also been worked out for the acceptance of RuPay domestic card in Singapore, in addition to the RuPay International Card, launched in June 2018. RuPay Domestic card will be accepted in Singapore in coming months. Under the JWG on Fintech, the two sides are making progress on a Global Stack, based on India Stack, and developing an international MSME digital platform, Business Sans Border.

SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION

34. ISRO launched Singapore’s first indigenously built micro-satellite in 2011; 2 more in 2014 and 6 in 2015. During PM’s visit to Singapore in June 2018, six MoUs were concluded by NTU for research & exchange partnership with NITI Aayog in the area of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing and big data analytics to improve healthcare, cybersecurity, automation, mobility, smart energy systems and e-governance, joint PhD and research with IITs and IISc Bengaluru, space research with Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and establishment of endowment for Indian research scholars coming to Singapore.

35. On 22 April 2023, ISRO successfully launched the PSLV-C55 mission carrying two Singapore satellites weighing 757kg. The primary payload is an earth observation satellite. In July 2023, ISRO launched 7 satellites for Singapore.

CULTURAL COOPERATION

36. Regular cultural exchanges include performing arts, theatre, museum exchanges, art, languages, and youth exchanges happen between India and Singapore. Inter-governmental cooperation in culture is governed by a 1993 MoU and Executive Programmes for specified periods. Singapore’s large Indian diaspora through a number of cultural societies and Singapore’s official support, sustained a high level of cultural activity in Singapore, supported by ICCR and the Mission.

DIASPORA AND INDIAN COMMUNITY

37. Ethnic Indians constitute about 9.1 % or around 3.5 lakhs of the resident population of 3.9 million in Singapore. In addition, among the 1.6 million foreigners residing in Singapore, about 21 % or around 3.5 lakhs are Indian expatriates holding Indian passports, mostly serving in financial services, IT, students, construction and marine sectors. Singapore has the highest concentration of IIT and IIM alumni in any one city outside India. There are about 1 lakh Indian migrant workers in Singapore. Singapore, however does not feature in the ECR category. Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore. Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi are also taught in schools. Welfare and well-being of the Indian nationals, including Indian workers feature prominently in consular responsibilities of the Mission.

38. On 3 July, PM Lee inaugurated the renovated Silat Road Gurudwara in Singapore during which he wore a traditional Sikh turban. On 13 March, 2022, HC attended the Singapore Sindhi Association’s Centennial Observance. PM Lee was the Guest of Honour at the event. On 16 September, DPM and Coordinating Minister of Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat participated in the Deepavali 2022 Light-Up Ceremony in Little India.

39. ASEAN-India Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was held in Singapore on 6-7 January 2018 as part of commemoration of 25 years of ASEAN-India Partnership, with the theme, “Ancient Route, New Journey” and showcasing ASEAN Indian diaspora talent and expertise. Singapore was one of the 8 cities where members of diaspora was given opportunity to ask questions to EAM in his Global Video Conference on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on 09 January 2020.

Useful Resources

Website: www.hcisingapore.gov.in

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndiaInSingapore

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndiainSingapor

Monthly E-Newsletter ‘India Focus’:

https://www.hcisingapore.gov.in/news_letter.php?nid=all

(October 2023)