India and Singapore move to deepen economic cooperation in startups and innovation

Singapore

SINGAPORE and India have called for deeper economic ties between both countries, indicating that they are moving together into areas such as startups and innovation as well as digital connectivity.

Describing their economic partnership as "the heartbeat" of the relationships between Singapore and India, visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday night: "The two lions (Singapore and India) should step into the future together."

The Indian leader told some 4,500 businessmen at a Singapore-India business event held at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre that India has made huge economic progress - and that the new India is a nation of innovation and startups, entrepreneurs, skilled workers and "sweeping" digitisation which touches every aspect of life in the country.

And it is time, he said, to upgrade the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, which Mr Modi reminded was the first such pact that India has inked with any country.

The business event was entitled "India and Singapore Stepping into the Future".

Noting the big advance in the Singapore-India economic partnership at the same event, S Iswaran, Singapore's Minister-in-Charge of Trade Relations, said that the two countries must "look ahead and build on these synergies and strengths".

"For example, there is significant potential for greater collaboration in the area of startups and innovation," he added. "India's startup scene has boomed in the past decade, and it is now the third largest startup ecosystem globally."

India is projected to have 10,000 startups by 2020 - and Mr Iswaran said that this tremendous growth presents opportunities for cooperation between Singapore and Indian startups.

He pointed out that Singapore's enterprise development agency, Enterprise Singapore, has teamed up with many players and will soon roll out the Singapore-India Incubation Programme to help Singapore startups break into the Indian market.

It will also "catalyse collaborations between the respective ecosystems for the joint creation and development of innovative solutions".

Mr Iswaran also said that Singapore firms should continue to support India's digitalisation efforts, especially in niche areas such as e-payments security, smart city management and e-commerce.

Singapore's Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets) and the National Payments Corporation of India are already working together to facilitate cross-border payment solutions in both countries.

Trade between Singapore and India jumped 14.6 per cent last year to S$25 billion. Singapore's investments in India increased from S$22.7 billion in 2014 to S$36.3 billion in 2016.

Mr Modi, who arrived on Thursday at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, toured an innovation exhibition with his host before addressing the business event.

The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) also signed three initiatives at the event. One is to foster a network where young professionals in Singapore and India acquire deep knowledge of business, trade and investment in the two markets. Another is to form a Singapore-India family business platform to build opportunities for family enterprises in Singapore and India.

The third initiative is to join hands with SBF's Indian counterpart to promote the "Make in India" effort in the manufacturing sector in Singapore.

Mr Modi is due to call on President Halimah Yacob and lunch with Mr Lee on Friday. He will also deliver the keynote address at the 17th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue on the same day.

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is scheduled to meet Mr Modi on Saturday.