MALAYSIA STRENGTHENS ECONOMIC COLLABORATION WITH INDIA FROM TRADE
AND INVESTMENT MISSION TO INDIA

YB Liew Chin Tong, Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, led a Trade and Investment Mission (TIM) to New Delhi and Mumbai, India, from 17 to 21 March.

During the five-day Mission, Liew engaged with a wide range of Indian stakeholders, including leaders representing the public and private sectors, to discuss latest developments in geoeconomics, and build deeper bilateral collaborations in the semiconductor sector, and chemical industry.

The MITI Mission is a follow-up to Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s official visit to India, which elevated Malaysia-India bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This latest Mission reinforces Malaysia's commitment to strengthening economic and technological cooperation with India.

In New Delhi, Liew had a productive bilateral meeting with The Honourable Shri Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology of India. Both sides agreed to collaborate on the semiconductor sector and to develop structured engagements at a three-level approach, i.e. government-to-government, business-to-business and industry association-toindustry association dialogue and partnership. Hopefully both governments will ink a semiconductor partnership arrangement in the foreseeable future.

India is pursuing a massive semiconductor industry policy. Some of the major recent investors in the sector in India have been operating in Malaysia over the past several decades as well as working well with Malaysia’s supply chain and ecosystem. We aspire to be part of India’s semiconductor growth story through supply chain collaboration, besides sharing experience in management capabilities and experience.

Liew also had discussions with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), and the Indian Chemical Council. These engagements focused on enhancing industrial collaboration and fostering supply chain resilience in mutually beneficial areas, with a specific focus on opportunities arising from both countries' involvement in the semiconductor industry.

Attending the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, the Deputy Minister spoke in a session themed “Concert of Oceans: Towards A Digital Indo-Paciϐic”. Organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the Dialogue serves as a platform for open and insightful exchanges on the global geopolitical and geoeconomics landscape, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and promoting international cooperation.

In Mumbai, Liew met The Honourable Shri Jaykumar Jitendrasingh Rawal, Minister of Protocol and Marketing for the Government of Maharashtra State. Maharashtra, as a highly industrialised state, had the largest contribution to India's GDP in 2024. Both sides discussed areas of mutual interest such as semiconductor, pharmaceuticals, cold chain and logistics, as well as the food and agriculture sector, which would allow Malaysia to tap into the huge economic potential of Maharashtra.

The Mission also featured a Roundtable Meeting with 30 captains of industry and eight (8) industry associations from Mumbai and other cities. The Deputy Minister was accompanied by Mr Sivasuriyamoorthy Sundara Raja (Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Investment Promotion and Facilitation, MIDA), Mr S. Jai Shankar (Senior Director, Export Promotion & Market Access Division, MATRADE), and Ms Shamilah Perumal (Minister of Economic Affairs at the High Commission of Malaysia in New Delhi).

The team provided an update of Malaysia’s policies, the key focus of our industry strategies as well as opportunities for Indian companies to explore, in line with Malaysia’s New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP 2030), National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS), and Green Investment Strategy under the MADANI Economic Framework.

During the trip, Liew also held an engagement session with Malaysian companies based in India. Attended by 11 representatives, they shared their views on the current business landscape and opportunities, apart from challenges faced by Malaysian companies in India.

He also visited Gentari India’s solar facility in Uttar Pradesh, which is part of its total installed capacity of 3.5 gigawatts in the country. Gentari India, a subsidiary of Petronas, is currently the largest business-to-business (B2B) provider of renewable energy in India.

The MITI Mission to India is guided by Prime Minister Anwar’s vision of deepening economic ties and technology cooperation among Global South nations. With the successful conclusion of this Mission, MITI and its agencies, particularly MIDA and MATRADE, will work on strengthening Malaysia-India economic cooperation with new rigours and energy.