Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI)
Dr. Alok Roy, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Ms. Lopamudra Dutta, Assistant Director, BCC&I, met with Mr. Malminder Singh, Executive Director and Ms. Nishani Hassan, Manager Corporate Communications & Publications, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Mr. Singh said that SICCI had few footprints only in West Bengal and not in other Eastern States. Bengal Chamber’s network with other Eastern States and Chambers of Commerce will prove to be a win-win situation as this will lend the relevant platform for SICCI to penetrate the market gradually. Rest of the eastern part of India still remains an unknown territory for them. Not enough outreach has been made. Mr. Singh and Dr Roy agreed that a delegation from SICCI to West Bengal may be planned. Analytics, with the project of Smart City at Kalyani could be promoted to investors in Singapore from the Infrastructure, Banking & Financial Services and Private Equity sectors.
High Commission of India in Singapore
Dr. Alok Roy, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Ms. Lopamudra Dutta, Assistant Director, BCC&I, met with the High Commissioner, Her Excellency, Ms. Vijay Singh. The High Commissioner reiterated that Singapore has a bandwidth and connect only with few States of the Easter Region and West Bengal is one of them. She opined that the West Bengal Chief Minister has already tapped the necessary organizations that had to be engaged for the State. Along with West Bengal, Assam and Bihar are the other two States that are being looked at by Singapore for investments. Ms. Singh was of the opinion that Singapore is bullish about investing in Bengal. Bengal is not unknown to Singapore and investors from Singapore are willing and interested to invest in good projects. She confirmed that Singapore works on a Business to Business model and focuses on areas they are familiar with. For the Singapore business fraternity familiarity with the sector is of importance and they are more keen and agreeable on “cooked project” or projects that have already commenced. The Smart City project at Kalyani is a point in case. Ms. Singh opined that investors would be keen at looking on this project. Investors from the infrastructure domain could be tapped. The High Commissioner was upbeat with Bengal Chamber’s connect with the North Eastern States as NE has a territorial boundary with the South East Asian countries. Also, the High Commission of India in Singapore has been pushing the NE region in the Singapore market.
The High Commission was planning an Investor’s Meet. The information would be shared with The Chamber and a subsequent delegation maybe planned.