Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Singapore this week to position India’s most populous state as a premier investment destination. The highlight of the trip was a roadshow organised by the Singapore Business Federation, held at the Shangri-La on Feb. 24.
The event, attended by fund managers, corporate executives and the who’s who of Singapore’s business community, was part of the state government’s broader effort to position Uttar Pradesh as India’s next major industrial engine.
CM Adityanath emphasised what he described as the state’s transformation over the past several years – pointing to improvements in law and order, policy stability, and infrastructure expansion.
With a population of roughly 250 million, Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 17 per cent of India’s population, which he framed as both a market opportunity and a labour advantage.
He also noted that Uttar Pradesh’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has increased from S$208bn to S$576bn over the past nine years, accounting for 9.5 per cent of India’s GDP.
“I can assure you that every investment coming into Uttar Pradesh is secured. We not only provide a safe environment, but also show how to connect scale with skill and speed,” CM Adityanath said.
Deepak Kumar, the Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, followed with a detailed presentation outlining the state’s economic metrics and incentive framework.
He highlighted the state’s expanding connectivity network, noting that Uttar Pradesh currently operates 16 airports, four of them international, and accounts for more than half of India’s expressway network.
Building on that infrastructure push, he pointed to the state’s manufacturing strength, stating that 55 per cent of India’s mobile phones are produced in Uttar Pradesh, while merchandise exports have more than doubled over the past seven years.
From there, the presentation shifted to sector-specific opportunities, spanning logistics and warehousing, renewable energy and storage, data centres, electronics manufacturing, defence production, electric vehicles and integrated townships.
In particular, Uttar Pradesh’s defence corridor – comprising six nodes – along with its network of integrated industrial clusters, was positioned as a ready platform for long-term capital deployment.
Incentives and Investment Commitments
A key highlight of the Singapore visit was CM Adityanath’s meeting with Lim Chow Kiat, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). Discussions focused on potential long-term infrastructure investments.
At the roadshow, Mr Deepak presented Uttar Pradesh’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, which offers front-loaded land rebates, capital subsidies, stamp duty exemptions, electricity duty waivers, and skill development incentives. The policy also allows for customised incentive packages for large global investors, particularly Fortune Global 500 and Fortune India 500 companies.
Alongside the FDI policy, the government introduced a Global Capability Centre (GCC) policy to attract technology and services firms, offering incentives such as capital subsidies, payroll support, and bandwidth subsidies. Noida and Greater Noida were positioned as emerging hubs for IT services and data centres.
Concrete investor interest was evident. Food & Beverage (F&B) Holdings was one of them. “It was a privilege to be part of the UP Invest signing of the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding). We are pleased to be investing there to expand our footprint in food and beverage manufacturing, as well as integrated food services and facilities management,” S.Mahenthiran, director of F&B Holdings said.
Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) also announced plans to invest S$720 million in Uttar Pradesh over four phases of development. “We hope to transfer the best practices and the best-in-class systems and technologies into our investment in Noida. This is our commitment,” said the president and CEO of SATS, Kerry Mok.
