Indian trade with Singapore on the upswing

Singapore's trade growth with India has outpaced its trade with China. Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) Executive Director Pradeep Menon said the rate of growth of Singapore's trade with India had reached 41 per cent and has outpaced the growth of its trade with China.

He was speaking at a meeting a business delegation from Singapore with Indian businessmen in Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) in Mumbai.

The 45 member delegation held talks with Indian industrialists and explored new business opportunities.

"India is surging and we want to play a part in its growth by contributing our enterprise and capital," said Menon. Before coming to Mumbai, the delegation visited Chennai and Pune and held talks with the businessmen there.

The trade of Singapore with India recently touched $10 billion. With China it is $30 billion. The delegation said that still there were lot of opportunities in India.

The Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore, industrialists believe, has laid the foundation for future growth of business partnership between the two countries.

Nayan Patel, president, IMC said: "Singapore is India's gateway to ASEAN and China. It is also India's largest export partner and the second largest source of imports from ASEAN".