Singapore plans to make major investment in India in coming years: Piyush Goyal

At the All India Industries and Commerce Ministers conference, Goyal said India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have signed a free trade agreement under which New Delhi has received an investment commitment of $100 billion over the next 15 years, which will also be of benefits to the states and they have to take advantage of this.

EFTA includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

On Wednesday, the Swiss Federal Council adopted a dispatch on the free-trade agreement between the EFTA states and India, the Swiss government said in a statement.

“Today the world wants to invest in India. Everybody wants to come to India. Singapore has already invested about $150 billion in India. They are ready to invest probably five times that amount in the coming years,” Goyal said.

He said that if all states and union territories (UTs) could come to one platform for approvals and facilities, it would attract global investment in each state.

Goyal said that approvals to industries in states should be time-bound and should be easy.

"We are experimenting with a system whereby people should not need to come to government offices for approvals and compliances," the Minister added.

He said that the Centre and states can work together in all sectors and push towards greater employment opportunities.

Goyal said that the government is making sincere efforts to promote India as the investment destination for the world and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) across different states and UTs.

He said that the Union Government has created a level playing field for all the states and UTs to attract FDI.

The investments coming from abroad are going to different states and each of them are beneficiary of our efforts to attract FDI, he added.