Trade Between India And Singapore Clocks Jump Of 18 Per Cent To $35.6 Billion In 2022-23, Says Diplomat

Prabakar said that Singapore remained India’s eighth largest trade partner as of 2022-23 and accounted for 3.1 per cent of the country’s overall trade

India and Singapore’s bilateral trade climbed to $35.6 billion in 2022-23, a senior official at the Indian High Commission said on Saturday. This marked a jump of 18.2 per cent on the year, T Prabakar, First Secretary (Commerce) at the commission noted. 

Addressing the Third International Conference of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in Singapore, Prabakar said that Singapore remained India’s eighth largest trade partner as of 2022-23 and accounted for 3.1 per cent of the country’s overall trade. The imports from Singapore in the period under review touched $23.6 billion, marking a growth of 24.4 per cent against the previous year, he said, reported PTI.

He further informed that, “Exports to the city-state totalled $12 billion, up $7.6 billion in the previous financial year.” He stated that in exports, Singapore stood as the sixth largest export destination globally, and the country’s ranking in imports destination for India remained eighth in the world during the 2022-23 fiscal year. 

“It is not only in merchandise trade that India-Singapore ties are growing, FDI (foreign direct investment) equity inflows into India from Singapore during 2022-23 stood at $17.2 billion. The cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore to India stood at $155.612 billion from April 2000 to December 2023, accounting for 23 per cent of the total FDI flows into India,” he said.

Elaborating on the relations between the two nations, Prabakar said that Singapore also stood amongst the largest sources of External Commerical borrowings for India. The countries have a vast network of strategic cooperation in the latest fields, like technologies, AI, and green energy, the diplomat noted. 

The two-day conference began on Friday and saw about 100 delegates in attendance. It held discussions on a large range of trade and technology topics, with the ICSI members looking for more insight into Singapore’s law regarding businesses that could be complementary to corporate and small enterprises in India.