Transcript of doorstop by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Gan Kim Yong at the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable

1. We have just completed the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR). Together with me, we have Senior Minister K Shanmugam, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister Jeffrey Siow, and Minister Josephine Teo. We came together with four Ministers from India.

2. We hold this every year, alternating between Singapore and India, and it has been a very useful and productive meeting – as you can see from our very long discussion, we went into great depth. This is a very unique format because we discuss with one another without officials present, so that we can be candid and open with each other. This has facilitated progress in bilateral collaboration, and we subsequently brief and update our senior officials so that they can follow up on the decisions made between the two countries. Let me give you a quick update on what we discussed.

3. We focused on six key pillars of collaboration.

4. On Advanced Manufacturing –

a. We discussed the semiconductor partnership. We exchanged the MOU on Semiconductor Ecosystem Partnership in 2024. Since then, quite a number of semiconductor manufacturers have invested in India. With that investment, they are also looking at bringing with them many of their suppliers and their ecosystem – which includes a lot of Singapore companies – to India, so that they are able to create an ecosystem for semiconductors in India.

b. That is why there are a lot of opportunities for Singapore SMEs, particularly those that are supporting the semiconductor industries here, to also explore India. We discussed with India how we can make their (referring to Singapore SMEs) relocation or entry into India smoother.

c. One area that we are particularly interested in is skills upgrading and training of the Indian workforce so that they are able to support the new semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries. This is something that we have been discussing, and we hope to be able to establish training centres for semiconductor, particularly, in areas where these semiconductor companies are investing in. This training has to be industry-led, and with the focus on the specific skills that will be required by the semiconductor industries, and there will be opportunities for our semiconductor ecosystem.

5. On Connectivity –

a. We discussed the collaboration between the Singapore-India Green and Digital Shipping Corridor, and we are discussing how we can facilitate the use of green fuel for maritime.

b. One area that we discussed is the Air Services Agreement (ASA). With the increased investment and trade between India and Singapore, we also expect two-way traffic to increase. Therefore, there is scope for us to discuss the ASA. We have not reached any specific decision on the ASA because this will be carried on by the aviation authorities of the two countries. We just discussed briefly the need to increase air connectivity, and the aviation authorities of the two countries will continue to discuss and explore opportunities on connectivity.

6. On Digitalisation –

a. We discussed the project in Rajasthan. The Indian authorities working with the state government is helping to facilitate our companies' interests in developing a sustainable industrial park in Rajasthan.

b. We also talked about the UPI and PayNow collaboration. I think many of you are familiar – we announced that several years ago. It has progressed well. To date, we have a transaction value for the first half of 2026 already reaching close to S$21 million, and this is more than six times the transaction value recorded in the first half of 2025.

c. It is progressing well, but we are also hoping to be able to facilitate more participation by banks as well as merchants, and one initiative that we hope to be able to realise soon is Project Nexus. The UPI-PayNow collaboration is bilateral between India and Singapore, whereas Project Nexus will bring multiple nations together. India is one of the founding members of Nexus, and it also involves five ASEAN countries, including Singapore. This will allow digital payment to be multi-lateralised, so we do not need to have bilateral agreements anymore. As long as you hook on to Nexus, you will be able to then have digital payment with all the participating countries. I think this is an important project. India is one of the founding members, and we are working together to see how we can implement Nexus as soon as possible. The current schedule is for Nexus to come online by 2027. This is something that we are working on, and we also have a Letter of Intent on cooperation in the field of telecoms and broadcasting that you have just witnessed. This is also a collaboration on digitalisation.

d. We also talked about collaboration in terms of capital markets. SGX has a keen interest to collaborate with the NSE of India to see how we can strengthen the depth and breadth of the capital market, and we have discussed several initiatives. The two stock exchanges, as well as the regulatory authorities, will continue to discuss how we can work together to expand the scope of our collaboration in our capital market.

7. On Healthcare and Medicine –

a. We acknowledged and noted the good progress in our nurses' training and skills upgrading programme in India and the continued access to Indian nursing manpower, which will be important for our healthcare sector. That has gone on well.

b. We also discussed the collaboration on Ayurvedic medicine. MOH is working on this project and making good progress, and we hope to be able to come to a conclusion on this collaboration soon.

8. On Skills Upgrading –

a. This is very important. We acknowledged and noted the good progress made by ITE Education Services (ITEES) – they are working now in Chennai to set up a Centre of Excellence for education and training. This is a very important initiative, particularly for advanced manufacturing. This is a national Centre of Excellence for advanced manufacturing, based in Chennai. ITEES and India’s intention is to use this as a model and pathfinder, to see how we can have a strong structure and framework for skills training and upgrading, which is very important for the industrialisation of India.

b. We have arrived at a common understanding and agreement on the path forward. ITEES will be conducting a needs assessment in September. With the needs assessment, they will then be able to define exactly what kind of training will be required and needed for this particular advanced manufacturing sector. India has also specifically emphasised that this training has to be industry-relevant, forward-looking, and needs to be able to meet the requirements of the industries. Therefore, it is important for us to work very closely with the Indian authorities as well as industries that are involved in advanced manufacturing, so that we can cater the training programme to the needs of these industries. This programme will also be supported under the Singapore Cooperation Programme.

9. On Sustainability –

a. Over the last few years, we have been working with India on the supply of food during crises like Covid-19. We also talked about how we can make sure that the supply of rice from India doesn’t get disrupted. This is an important area. As you know, we already have a supply chain resilience arrangement with Australia, New Zealand and several other countries. We are also discussing the same issue, specifically on food supplies, with India. Wwe agree that we should explore how India and Singapore can work more closely together to ensure the continued supply of food from India to Singapore, and Singapore will then see how we can work together.

b. There are several areas of potential collaboration. One area is, for example, research and development in strengthening the technology for crops – for yield, for better quality, more resilient seeds, and so on. There are areas that we can work together in terms of R&D.

c. There is also potential for investment in the food processing part of the industry in India. SATS Kitchens, for example, already has an operation in India to process the food supplies that are required for airlines. Things like that are possible and this will strengthen the arrangement for food security. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) will work with the Indian counterpart to develop a concept on how we can strengthen food assurance between the two countries, and for this, we also handed over a proposal from SFA on the concept of this food security. We will discuss this further between the two countries.

10. Having discussed many of these issues, we have also discussed beyond the six pillars, what are the other areas of potential collaboration.

a. One specific area that we raised is cooperation in space. India has very strong space technology. They are one of the key launch sites for satellites, and I think they have also made ventures into space. We are very keen to discuss the possibility of collaboration with them, whether in research and development or even in commercial cooperation. The Singapore Space Agency will work with India's counterpart, IN-SPACe to discuss the potential areas in which they can work together and develop initiatives for the future.

b. At the same time, we also discussed other areas where we have a common interest. One area is in nuclear technology. We have talked about small modular reactors (SMRs), and we also discussed how we can share our experience and knowledge about SMRs. As you know, we are very keen to keep in touch with the development of this technology, although we have not decided whether we are going to adopt nuclear, but it's important for us to keep pace with the development of the technology in this area. That's why we have discussed the possibility of working together to explore and share knowledge on this technology.

c. Another area that we were also exploring is cybersecurity – this is also part of the digital collaboration. In this era of digitalisation, cybersecurity is a very important part of the digital infrastructure, and we want to share our experiences, knowledge and expertise in ensuring cybersecurity.

d. The last area that we discussed is innovation. India has been a very innovative economy. They also have an innovation campaign where they bring investors and innovators together, and try to match them and give innovators a chance and opportunity to commercialise their innovation. They have been doing this in India, as well as in France, and they are thinking of bringing this to Singapore, which we welcome, because this will then provide opportunities for our startups and innovators to have a platform to showcase their innovation, and for investors to explore opportunities for investments in Singapore. With Singapore being a gateway into Asia, this will provide a great opportunity for some of these innovators and startups. We will be working together with India on bringing this innovation platform to Singapore.

11. That, in a nutshell, is what we have discussed in ISMR. ISMR is between Ministers and government, but it is also important to involve the private sector because the private sector will drive investments and the economy. Following this, we will have a lunch with business representatives in the India-Singapore Business Roundtable (ISBR). The businessmen will come together and have lunch with the Ministers, and they will share what their concerns and interests are from the business perspective, so that the Ministers can take them on board in our deliberation on the collaborations going forward.

12. In a nutshell, I think we have made good progress. Compared to the last ISMR, we have reviewed the progress, and we are quite happy with the progress so far. Of course, there are hiccups and kinks that we need to iron out, and this platform makes it very easy now for us to call each other. I know the four Ministers personally, so it is not so difficult for me to just give a call to my counterpart to say, “We have this issue – can you please help us look into it?”. I think this is the most important value of this platform – that it is not just across the negotiating table, but that we develop trust and relationship with one another that will help to strengthen bilateral collaboration between the two countries.

13. Thank you.