An official statement dated 12 October noted that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had concluded her trip to Singapore, during which she held discussions with global investors, financial institutions, and businesses on deepening economic and financial ties between the two countries.
Talks between Sitharaman and Singapore's leadership covered a range of shared priorities, from drawing greater cross-border investment and strengthening financial links to advancing joint work on emerging technologies.
According to the official release, the finance minister outlined India's macroeconomic foundations, its growth trajectory, and the policy reforms currently under way, while urging institutional investors and businesses based in Singapore to direct greater capital into the country's developing economy. A curated set of infrastructure opportunities drawn from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund pipeline was presented to potential investors, with the aim of opening pathways for further dialogue with the relevant authorities in India.
The finance minister's investment outreach included a roundtable with senior figures drawn from a broad cross-section of global financial institutions — among them JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, Deutsche Bank, PIMCO, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Carlyle, Temasek, Millennium Management, Citadel, and Brevan Howard. The agenda at that session ranged from India's economic reform trajectory and its resilience amid global volatility to conditions in domestic and international financial markets, the pace of advancement in artificial intelligence, and pathways for channelling greater volumes of international capital into Indian assets.
Attendees expressed a broadly positive outlook on the direction of India's economy, according to the statement. Those involved also conveyed a desire to see the administration continue its approach on economic stewardship, infrastructure investment, and conditions favourable to growth.
On the sidelines of her broader engagements, Sitharaman held one-on-one discussions with senior representatives from a range of banks, asset managers, and multinational corporations — among them Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Wellington Management, Standard Chartered Bank, GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation), DBS Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Temasek, TPG, HPS Investment Partners, CapitaLand Investment, Intel, British International Investment (BII), IHH Healthcare, and B Capital.
Executives from those financial institutions and global corporations indicated appetite for deploying capital across several areas, among them consumer markets, start-ups, fintech, deep-tech, and healthcare. According to the statement, discussions also covered funding and investment prospects spanning a broad range of sectors — from AI-related infrastructure such as semiconductors and data centres to renewable energy tied to India's energy transition and energy security goals, along with manufacturing, small and medium enterprises, trade finance, financial services, food supply chains, and other growth-oriented areas.
Topics such as aircraft leasing arrangements, the establishment of treasury centres, and broader access for international investors to India's financial markets were also raised during the discussions. Attracting patient institutional capital and broadening the range of funding pathways available to India's infrastructure and development agenda featured prominently on the investment agenda.
Exchanges on payment-system integration and next-generation financial technologies also advanced over the course of the visit. Discussions held with the Monetary Authority of Singapore covered a range of next-generation financial technologies, with both delegations sharing perspectives on areas including asset tokenisation, digital money forms, central bank digital currencies, cross-system interoperability, and frameworks for trusted settlement, according to the statement.
Singapore conveyed readiness to share its accumulated knowledge in asset tokenisation during those discussions. The talks opened a path toward expanded collaboration between the two nations' financial regulators on new technologies and their application within their respective markets, the statement noted.
Conversations with the private sector also touched on openings tied to India's growing semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries. Topics on the table ranged from channelling investment through the India Semiconductor Mission to building a trained workforce, with industry-linked learning programmes and AI skilling efforts also on the agenda alongside the use of artificial intelligence within banking and financial services.
According to the statement, additional focus areas spanned renewable energy, electric mobility, aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), food security and processing, sustainable finance, and healthcare infrastructure.
