India, Singapore to sign pact on semiconductors during PM Modi’s visit

WION - India and Singapore are set to sign a significant agreement on semiconductors during Prime Minister Modi's upcoming visit to the country. The Indian Prime Minister will be travelling to Singapore on 4-5th September, during which he will be holding meetings with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

The pact on semiconductors comes even as India has been strengthening its collaboration in the semiconductor sector with global partners, including the US, Taiwan, the EU, and others. 

With the US, initiatives have been seen, like a collaboration between Purdue University and the India Semiconductor Mission. With Taiwan, a partnership between Tata Electronics and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) has led to the creation of India's first commercial semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat. 

India's cooperation with the EU includes an MOU on Working Arrangements for Semiconductor Ecosystems under the EU-India Trade and Technology Council framework. New Delhi is also exploring collaborations with Japan to advance technologies such as semiconductors, aiming to build resilient supply chains.

Other than semiconductors, MoUs that are expected to be signed include Skilling, Health/Medicine, and Digital Collaboration. Investment will be another key focus of the visit. Singapore has been invited by the Indian government to invest in 12 industrial parks announced last week. The Lion City, known for being the financial centre of the world, could send a team to India to look at the projects and invest. Singapore is India’s top foreign investor and has accounted for about 23% of India’s FDI equity inflows since 2000. 

The last visit of PM Modi to Singapore was in 2018. Ahead of the visit, four Indian ministers—Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, were in Singapore on 26th August for the 2nd Indian Singapore ministerial roundtable.

The roundtable has several areas of conversation like Digitalisation, Skills Development, Sustainability, Healthcare & Medicine, Advanced Manufacturing and Connectivity. The Indian ministers were joined by their counterparts from Singapore-Deputy PM and Trade and Industries Minister Gan Kim Yong, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, and Home Minister K Shanmugam. 

Other Singapore ministers present at the meeting were Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs, Dr. Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance.