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| Inaugural Session – Make In India Global Business Summit 2015- From L-R: Mr. Pradeep Maithani, Chairman, Prospur Events Pte Ltd, Mr. Ameerali Jumabhoy, Businessman & Industralist, Mr. Manoj Menon, Sr. Partner and Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan, Mr. Ravindra Nath, CMD, National Small Industries Corporation Limited, Govt. of India, HE Ms. Vijay Thakur Singh, High Commissioner of India to Singapore, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Chairman, Kent RO Systems Ltd., Mr. R. Narayanamohan, Past President, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) |
SINGAPORE: Wooing Singapore's small and medium enterprises to venture into its market, India today said the time was right for a "quantum jump" in the bilateral economic relationship.
Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative is designed to build manufacturing sectors in the country through 25 sectors, including automotive, pharma, chemicals and textile, said Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, Vijay Thakur Singh.
"As Singapore companies internationalise to build scale, access new markets and customers, India can be the new location for manufacturing for Singapore companies," said Singh at the opening of the "Make In India" Global Business Summit 2015 held on 12th June at Resorts World Convention Centre, Singapore.
"Singapore companies would find Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) eager and good partners. In fact time is right for the quantum jump in our economic relationship," she added.
Elaborating on the strength of the Indian SMEs, Singh pointed out that the sector has generated growth of 10 per cent per annum in recent years. "You would see a lot happening in India in innovation," she said.
"This new wave of SMEs would therefore be creating an ecosystem that would be gear to delivery of right products, right quality, the right solutions and the right service at competitive prices for both in the domestic and international markets," Singh said.
Touching on the bilateral relationship between Singapore and India, she said Singapore is important destination for Indian businesses, trade as well as Indian students and tourists.
"The 50 year milestone is an opportunity to celebrate and to build on the already strong base of our relationship to yet a further level," she said referring to the five decades of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC), a Government of India Enterprise under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has said it is looking at areas of mutual cooperation between Indian and Singaporean enterprises to expand India's industrial presence in South East Asia.
"We would like to see if there are areas of mutual cooperation whereby Indian and Singaporean enterprises can have relationships. We would like to build that type of relationships," NSIC chairman and managing director Ravindra Nath said.
As facilitator, NSIC would want to see collaborations between Singapore and Indian enterprises, involving training from either side, sharing of knowledge, expertise and machinery as per requirements of the two parties. He said NSIC has already initiated similar discussions with enterprises in Vietnam and Malaysia.
The summit, organized by the Singapore based Prospur Events Pte Ltd, was attended by about 200 businessmen with India represented by a delegation led by the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd, headed by chairman and managing director Ravindra Nath.
Prospur Events chairman and managing director Pradeep Maithani said the summit has brought 40 MSMEs from India to hold one-to-one business venture discussions with SMEs from the South East Asian countries.
This is beginning of our marketing programme for "Make In India", which includes tie-up and joint ventures between Indian and South East Asian enterprises. “Our target is to have 10,000 SMEs from the region join Indian enterprises with a combined investment of $ 1 billion by December 2017," Pradeep Maithani said.
The event was supported by Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Ministry – Govt. of India, National Small Industries Corporation, Indian High Commission of Singapore, The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI), Pravam Consulting, Nanyang Technological University, India Se Magazine, Radio Masti 96.3 FM. The Knowledge Partner of the event was Frost & Sullivan.
