India and Singapore signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) and exchanged a Letter of Intent (LoI) during the fourth India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held on Thursday, August 20, 2026. According to the Finance Ministry, these agreements were signed in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Electronics and IT and Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada. The agreements cover cooperation in the areas of maritime heritage, food safety, and telecommunications and broadcasting regulations. As per the Finance Ministry, these agreements will further strengthen bilateral cooperation across diverse areas of mutual interest. The Singapore delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Gan Kim Yong, along with Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo, and Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Jeffrey Siow.
The delegation will hold business-to-business, government-to-business and institutional meetings focused on partnerships, investment, market access, technology cooperation and skill development, according to an official statement. The meeting will be held alongside the fourth India-Singapore Business Roundtable and will be followed by an MoU signing ceremony and a lunch hosted by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister for the participating delegates. In addition, the minister will also meet Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the Istana. Goyal is leading a 70-member business delegation to Singapore, with the visit beginning from August 19 and continuing through August 21. The delegation includes representatives from AI, manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services, healthcare, food and agriculture, logistics, maritime and trade. Goyal is scheduled to hold government-to-business meetings with senior representatives of Singapore-based and global institutions, including Temasek Holdings, Keppel Infrastructure and IHH Healthcare. He will also participate in a Family Office Roundtable and meet representatives of the Singapore Business Federation, Turner & Townsend and STT GDC. Goyal will jointly visit an APEDA-FairPrice initiative at City Square Mall with Singapore's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang. Apart from that, he will also participate in the India-Singapore Business Forum organised by FICCI at the INSEAD Asia Campus and attend the ICAI ASEAN Conference 2026, where he will deliver a keynote address.
The India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable, established in 2022, focuses on advanced manufacturing, connectivity, digitalisation, healthcare, medicine, skills development and sustainability. As reported by PTI and Rediff Moneynews, the Finance Ministry stated that the 4th ISMR will build on the progress made under these pillars and explore new opportunities to further strengthen the India-Singapore economic partnership. The government emphasized that these sectors significantly boost the 'Viksit Bharat' (Developed India) initiative, with discussions focusing on strengthening the India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership roadmap. The CSP was unveiled during the visit of Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to India in September last, with deliberations from these meetings driving the India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP Roadmap). The fourth edition of India-Singapore Business Roundtable that serves as a strategic and advisory forum of key business leaders will also be held alongside the ISMR, with boosting overall trade and investment between the two countries likely to be one of the focus areas. The engagements will focus on partnerships, investment, market access, technology collaboration and talent development.
Singapore was the largest source of foreign direct investment into India in 2025-26, with inflows of $19.8 billion. As reported by PTI and Rediff Moneynews, cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore stood at $194.68 billion between April 2000 and March 2026, accounting for 24.72% of India's total FDI inflows. Singapore is India's largest trading partner within ASEAN and a major source of external commercial borrowings and foreign portfolio investment. Singapore was India's sixth-largest trading partner in the financial year 2024-25, with India's imports from Singapore in 2024-25 were USD 21.2 billion, while the volume of exports to the country was USD 14.4 billion. Bilateral trade has expanded substantially following the conclusion of the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), increasing from USD 6.7 billion in FY 2004-05 to USD 36.1 billion in FY 2025-26. The inaugural meeting of ISMR was held in New Delhi in September 2022, followed by the second meeting in Singapore in August 2024, and the third ISMR meeting was held in New Delhi in August last year.
