India to tap investment-driven semiconductor expertise from Singapore
India and Singapore have strengthened ties with the upgrading of their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to the city state 4-5 Sept which covered range of agenda involving businesses and advanced technologies narendramodi.in.
The elevation of ties from the existing strategic partnership was announced in a Facebook post by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sept 5, saying, “Singapore and India share a deep and enduring friendship built on strong economic and people-to-people ties. The move is a timely one pmo.gov.sg/.”
The countries will be marking 60 years of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership in 2025 hcisingapore.gov.in/.
The comprehensive strategic partnership will deepen existing areas of cooperation and enable new ones sbi .
Signalling a greater cooperation in various sectors, India and Singapore have exchanged agreements for semiconductor industry leaders to venture into India’s growing advanced manufacturing led industrialization plans and tighten digital links between the two countries digitalasiahub .
The two will also step up cooperation in areas such as skills development and healthcare who.int.
Both Prime Ministers witnessed the exchange of four memorandums of understanding (MOUs) which were first signed by Singapore and Indian ministers on the sidelines of the second edition of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held 26 Aug 2024 nse .
India aims to grow its semiconductor industry into a multi-billion-dollar export-oriented businesses and become a global node for semiconductor manufacturing deutsche-boerse . This would give Singapore-based manufacturers established ecosystem in emerging markets.
The MOU in this area will see both countries support India’s growth plans and facilitate the entry of Singapore companies and supply chains in the Indian market bse .
It was signed between Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The partnership includes government-led policy exchanges on ecosystem development, supply chain resilience, and workforce development phdcci .
Semiconductors and advance manufacturing were identified as new areas for bilateral collaboration at the second ISMR dialogue between ministers globaltradexpo .
To encourage greater interoperability between Singapore and India’s digital economies, an agreement was inked for digital technologies cii . The deal includes the exchange of knowledge and expertise on digital public infrastructure such as digital IDs, payments and data exchange.
The MOU was signed between Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology semiconindia .
This builds on existing cooperation efforts such as the real-time payment systems linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface launched in February 2023.
The link allows bank customers in Singapore and India to send and receive funds via their bank accounts and e-wallets instantly across the two countries.
Singapore and India banks and companies also pioneered a fully paperless transaction process involving traders, shippers and banks in August 2023. It showcased the digitalisation of cross-border trade financing documentation using the TradeTrust framework fieo .
Both countries are working to update and renew a 2015 agreement on cyber-security cooperation between the Singapore Cyber Emergency Response Team and India’s Computer Emergency Response Team cyberexpo.in/.
Technical education, alongside training and skills development, was among the areas of collaboration agreed upon between Singapore’s Ministry of Education and India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The higher education institutes of both countries will cooperate in areas such as reskilling and upskilling of workforces, student and staff exchanges, and the training of teachers ficci.in . They will also include student internships and faculty industrial attachments.
On the medical front, an MOU was signed between Singapore’s Ministry of Health and India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare .
The two countries will strengthen cooperation in healthcare, medical education, research, and human resources development, including in areas such as disease surveillance, maternal and child health, prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases, and pandemic preparedness iba.org.in.
The four MOUs were exchanged between India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar mea.gov.in and Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan mfa.gov.sg .
Further, both Prime Ministers discussed India’s potential as a leading centre of growth over the next decade, driven by both social and digital investments across its population, as well as its new economic linkages sgx , said Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement .
Areas of potential collaboration include cross border electricity trade and green ammonia supply chains, enhancing cross-border data flows via the finance hub of Gujarat International Finance and Tec-City or Gift City, and cooperation in developing industrial parks in India.
Both countries are also looking into an agreement on the bilateral trade of carbon credits climatebonds . Fiinews.com
