New Delhi/Singapore: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sunday held a discussion in Singapore with Standard Chartered Bank Group Chief Executive Bill Winters on opportunities to strengthen trade finance, cross-border banking, and financial flows in support of India’s growing engagement with global markets.
Other top officials of the bank, including Group Chief Operating Officer Tanuj Kapilashrami, CEO Singapore, ASEAN & South Asia Patrick Lee, and Director, Government Affairs, Group Public & Regulatory Affairs Colin Tung, also participated in the meeting.
Views were also exchanged on enabling wider AI adoption through appropriate tax and regulatory frameworks and opportunities to establish and expand treasury centres at GIFT IFSC, according to a Finance Ministry statement.
Sitharaman is on a three-day official visit to Singapore. Friday, she met Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and held discussions on ways to further strengthen economic, financial, investment and business ties between the two countries.
She shared select projects from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) official pipeline and highlighted India’s strong economic fundamentals to encourage greater investment by Singapore-based investors.
PM Wong noted that bilateral cooperation between India and Singapore continues to grow and expressed optimism about India’s growth prospects.
The two leaders also reviewed progress in advancing the outcomes of the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), including cooperation in capital markets, payments connectivity and digitalisation, semiconductors, AI, and cybersecurity.
Discussions also covered tokenisation of financial assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), with Singapore expressing keenness to share its experience in asset tokenisation.
Besides, the two ministers exchanged views on regional and global developments and on strengthening India-ASEAN cooperation, including in the run-up to Singapore’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2027.
The Finance Minister called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as well. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange views on taking forward the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and further strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Sitharaman also participated in a Business Roundtable with senior representatives of leading global investment firms, including Millennium Partners, Brevan Howard, BlackRock, PIMCO, Carlyle, ADIA, Temasek, Citadel, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank.
The interaction focused on India’s economic resilience amid global uncertainties, including volatile oil prices and geopolitical and geoeconomic developments, as well as the opportunities and challenges arising from rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence.
The Finance Minister exchanged views with global investors on India’s macroeconomic fundamentals, financial markets and measures to further deepen market participation and attract global capital in Indian assets. The roundtable provided an opportunity for a candid exchange of perspectives with leading global investors on India’s evolving economic and financial landscape.
