India-Singapore bilateral trade grew 18.2% to $35.6 billion in FY 2022-23

Singapore: The bilateral trade between Singapore and India rose to USD 35.6 billion in 2022-23, a growth of 18.2 per cent on the year, a senior diplomat at the Indian High Commission here said on Saturday.

Singapore is India’s eighth largest trade partner (2022-23), with a share of 3.1 per cent of India’s overall trade, T Prabakar, the First Secretary (Commerce) at the high commission said.

He was addressing the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Third International Conference being held in Singapore from April 5-6.

Trade between Singapore and India saw a growth of 18.2 per cent in the year and rose to USD 35.6 billion in 2022-23, Prabakar said.

“Our imports from Singapore in FY 22-23 were USD 23.6 billion, a growth of 24.4 per cent, and exports to the city-state totalled USD 12 billion, up 7.6 billion in the previous financial year,' he told some 100 delegates at the conference.

In terms of India’s exports, Singapore is the sixth largest export destination in the world, and in terms of imports, the city-state is the eighth largest source for India globally during 2022-23.

It is not only in merchandise trade that India-Singapore ties are growing, Prabakar said, adding that FDI (foreign direct investment) equity inflows into India from Singapore during 2022-23 stood at USD 17.2 billion.

The cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore to India stood at USD 155.612 billion from April 2000 to December 2023, accounting for 23 per cent of the total FDI flows into India, he said.

Giving an overview of India-Singapore relations, Prabakar pointed out that Singapore is also amongst India's largest sources of External Commercial borrowings.

He also highlighted a wide range of strategic cooperation between the two nations in new fields, such as technologies, AI and green energy.

The two-day conference discussed a wide range of trade and technology issues, with ICSI members seeking insights into Singapore’s law related to businesses that can be complementary to corporate and small enterprises in India.