Interested in exploring collaboration with Indian IT, fintech sector: Singapore’s Minister of Commerce

By Ayushi Agarwal |
Updated: March 13, 2023 2:20 p.m IST

New Delhi [India]March 13 (ANI): Calling India a strong leader in the IT and fintech sector, Trade and Industry Minister Singapore Gan Kim Yong said Singapore is interested in exploring opportunities and partnering with India in this sector.
He made this comment following the recent cross-border real-time payment system link between India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow link between the two countries.
In what is a first-of-its-kind collaboration with another country, India and Singapore last month linked their respective online payment systems — Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India and PayNow in Singapore — for seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries.
The linking of these two payment systems in both countries will enable residents of both countries to make faster and more cost-effective cross-border money transfers. People in both countries will be able to send money in real time via QR code based or simply by entering mobile numbers linked to the bank account.
“India has very strong leadership, knowledge, skills and innovation in IT and in Fintech as well. This is an area where we are very interested in exploring opportunities and working together. UPI and the PayNow system, a great venture that we took together and This I hope will be the start of many partnerships with other countries as Singapore and India can lead the way in the integration of the payment system,” the minister said in an interview to ANI.
The cross-border real-time payment system link between Singapore and India was launched earlier in the virtual presence of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, and Ravi Menon, CEO of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
India has emerged as one of the fastest growing ecosystems for fintech innovation and the Prime Minister Modi-led government has been instrumental in driving the globalization of India’s digital payments infrastructure.
Yong called the link an important development, adding that his country is also looking for cooperation in areas such as education, sustainability and skills upgrading.
“This was streamlined between two countries and this is a very important development in the fintech industry. We certainly look forward to more opportunities to collaborate in Fintech as well as many other areas of interest in education, skills upgrading, in sustainability and these are all opportunities emerging and we look forward to our partnership with India,” he said.
The Commerce Minister is in Delhi for the launch event of the third edition of the Singapore-India Hackathon (SIH) 2023 which NTU is taking the lead in organizing with the High Commission of the Republic of Singapore in New Delhi as a key partner.
SIH 2023 is organized as a follow-up to the meeting between Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Lawrence Wong with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2022 during the DPM’s visit to New Delhi.
SIH 2023 will be held as a special initiative in India as part of the G20 to support further building of goodwill and bilateral educational cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship between start-ups and students in Singapore and India.
Talking about his visit and the Singapore – India Hackathon, the minister said it is very important as it brings together young people from both countries in terms of leading ideas and innovation.
“India is a very important trade partner for Singapore. I am here to meet my counterpart as well as to participate in the various activities. This Hackathon is very important as it brings together young people from both countries, especially those who inspire us as entrepreneurs , to allow them to come together in terms of ideas, innovation and in this way we create friendships and partnerships between young people in India and Singapore and hopefully in this way we can encourage more entrepreneurship to encourage innovative ideas and this is very important for the future of business,” he added. (ANI)