India's National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) signed an MoU here on Tuesday with an aim to promote knowledge and information exchange in urban planning, waste water management, solid waste management and public-private partnerships.
The MoU was signed between Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, and Kong Wy Mun, Chief Executive Officer, SCE.
An MoU between the Town and Country Planning Organisation of the Government of India and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Capacity Building in the field of urban planning and governance was also signed between the two organizations.
This MoU will provide for participation of government officials from India in capacity-building programmes in areas such as urban planning and management.1
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Urban solutions and manufacturing are key industries in India which present new opportunities for investors in Singapore, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (Nov 24).
Speaking to business leaders at the Singapore-India Economic Convention in Singapore, he cited affordable homes, smart cities and new railway corridors as among the main infrastructure projects that offer growth prospects for global investors as India urbanises and industrialises.
Meanwhile, beyond bilateral ties between India and Singapore, Mr Modi said there are significant opportunities for collaboration with other countries through multilateral economic groupings such as the ASEAN Economic Community and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Mr Modi said his government has been taking deliberate steps to simplify the process of foreign investments entering the country. Tax reforms, which are also on the cards, are expected to reduce the cost of doing business in India.
Going forward, he cited plans to further facilitate investment in infrastructure - an area which presents significant opportunities for global investors.
"We're keen to scale up investment in net infrastructure, including digital networks and clean energy. In addition to the core infrastructure, we're keen to invest in social, industrial and agri-infrastructure, to give better income and quality of life to our people. With tight control over expenditure, we have greatly increased capital investment by public sector,” he said.
“To leverage this, we're setting up a national investment and infrastructure fund. We're also coming up with tax-free infrastructure bonds with a view to broaden the corporate bond market. This will also provide long term finance for infrastructure. For infrastructure, we have also decided to launch rupee bonds in some countries. Singapore could be among them. We're quite eager to work with Singapore in this regard."2