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India ‘best alternative’ for resilient supply chains: Modi to Singapore business leaders
India has intensified efforts to forge supply and value chains with trusted partners in Asia and Europe, largely as part of efforts to move away from China.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pitched India to Singapore’s business leaders as the “best alternative” for creating resilient supply chains, and urged them to consider opportunities in roads, railways, ports and civil aviation as his government ramps up infrastructure development.
Modi interacted with leading Singaporean CEOs from sectors such as investment funds, infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, sustainability and logistics along with Singapore’s deputy prime minister Gan Kim Yong and home minister K Shanmugam. Singapore was the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India last year, and cumulative investments since 2000 are worth $160 billion.
India has intensified efforts to forge supply and value chains with trusted partners in Asia and Europe, largely as part of efforts to move away from reliance on China against the backdrop of a dragging military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Modi has held up Singapore as an “important anchor” for India’s decade-old Act East policy.
While urging Singapore’s business leaders to look at investment opportunities and to increase their presence in India, Modi held up the country as the “best alternative” for businesses looking for resilient supply chains, the external affairs ministry said in a statement. An Invest India office will be set up in Singapore to facilitate collaboration, he announced.
Read more: ‘India wants to create several Singapores’, says PM Modi
He assured the CEOs that India will “increase the pace and scale of infrastructure development” and pointed to new opportunities in railways, roads, ports, civil aviation, industrial parks and digital connectivity. He also called on them to look at opportunities in skill development.
The elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership will give a major thrust to economic relations, Modi said. India will continue to make “transformative progress” because of its political stability, policy predictability, ease of doing business and reform-oriented economic agenda, he contended.
Modi also highlighted initiatives to enhance India’s participation in global value chains through the Production Linked Incentive scheme, India Semiconductor Mission and establishment of 12 new industrial smart cities.
Among the business leaders who joined the roundtable were Singapore Business Federation chairman Lim Ming Yan, Singapore Business Federation CEO Kok Ping Soon, Blackstone Singapore senior MD and chairman Gautam Banerjee, Temasek Holdings chairman Lim Boon Heng, and DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta.
Modi also met Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and discussed bilateral and global issues. The leaders noted the longstanding cooperation between the two sides is based on trust, mutual respect and complementarity.
“They shared thoughts on how India and Singapore can expand their cooperation to new areas such as advanced manufacturing and in emerging technologies,” the external affairs ministry said in a readout.
PM Modi also held separate meetings with senior minister and former premier Lee Hsien Loong, who hosted a lunch in his honour, and emeritus senior minister Goh Chok Tong. Modi appreciated Lee’s contributions to the development of the bilateral strategic partnership and both leaders agreed there is substantial potential to do more. Modi said Goh’s efforts, when he was prime minister, laid a solid foundation for developing bilateral ties.
