Dr. Rajeev Singh, Chair of the India-Greece-Cyprus (IGC) Business and Investment Council, has revealed how it plans to deepen economic, trade and investment ties between the three countries.
In a recent interview with GOLD magazine, he also identifies the opportunities and risks shaping the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and suggests the sectors that are currently best positioned for collaboration.
The India-Greece-Cyprus (IGC) Business and Investment Council is a new initiative aimed at boosting trade and investment across three countries. Can you explain more about it and how it came about?
The Council is an institutional platform launched under the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to deepen economic, trade and investment links across India, Greece and Cyprus. It seeks to harness the complementary strengths of these three nations: India’s scale and innovation, Greece’s logistical and maritime positioning, and Cyprus’ role as a financial and connectivity bridge into Europe. The launch in India took place in Mumbai in February, 2025.
One of the foundational pillars behind the Council is a set of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), including one signed in September 2024 between Eurobank Cyprus and the ICC, to facilitate business flows. On the India-Cyprus side, bilateral MoUs already exist across multiple domains – trade, investment, defence and mobility – that provide a working foundation upon which the IGC can build. These pre-existing agreements allow the Council to engage more swiftly, acting less as a starting point and more as a coordinating forum that leverages established institutional frameworks to generate new, cross-border projects and deals.
The Council was officially launched abroad in Athens and Limassol in May 2025 to foster trade and investment along the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Board members, in addition to the Indian Chamber of Commerce, include Eurobank, Invest Cyprus, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Enterprise Greece, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises and Export Credit Greece.
IMEC has been hailed as a potential game-changer, becoming central to Europe’s de-risking efforts. What concrete role will the IGC play in making this corridor work in practice?
IMEC envisions modernising and realigning trade, energy and digital pathways connecting India to Europe via the Middle East. For this vision to become a reality, institutional collaboration must be matched by private sector alignment. The Council intends to play a concrete role by leveraging existing institutional frameworks.
Because India and Cyprus already have multiple MoUs, the Council can map out which agreements may be leveraged or augmented to support IMEC-aligned projects. The MoU between ICC and Eurobank, for example, helps us channel cross-border financing and banking linkages in support of corridor infrastructure.
The Council also plans to act as a bridge for sectoral working groups (logistics, energy, digital infrastructure) that include Indian, Greek and Cypriot firms and invites participation from corridor-adjacent states.
Another way is to pilot projects and early wins. Rather than waiting for grand mega-projects, the Council will promote pilot investments – last-mile logistics improvements, digital trade platforms, small-scale renewable energy installations, etc. – to build momentum.
Also, it will facilitate capital and risk pooling. Given the financing magnitude that an IMEC-style corridor entails, the Council will help structure blended finance vehicles, public-private partnerships and institutional investment syndicates across the three countries.
By embedding the Council’s strategy in the groundwork of existing MoUs and bilateral mechanisms, we reduce gestation time and increase the likelihood of early demonstrable success.
Can you name a specific initiative or project that the Council is already working on?
The Council is already working on several initiatives. For example, building upon institutional foundations laid by existing agreements, it is rolling out the India-Cyprus Investment & Innovation Forum. This Forum is being structured to bring together stakeholders from government, research institutions and industry to identify joint projects in sectors such as fintech, renewable energy, maritime logistics and education.
As part of this initiative, we are aligning our roadmaps with the existing MoUs signed between India and Cyprus and between regional chambers. For example, the Invest India-Invest Cyprus MoU signed in December 2021 is being activated; the first virtual meeting between them was held in November 2023. Other MoUs include those between the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Limassol Chamber (April 2023), the Bangalore Chamber and the Larnaca Chamber (May 2024) and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Bombay Chamber (November 2024).
These provide a network of local-level partnerships that the Council is weaving into its outreach and project planning. Through these layered institutional ties, the Forum is designed to move from dialogue to deal-making, clustering opportunities where Indian, Cypriot and Greek enterprises can co-invest.
India’s digital sector is projected to account for close to a fifth of its GDP by 2030. How can India’s digital scale support Cyprus’ ambitions to become an innovation hub? Where, in practical terms, do you see opportunities?
Cyprus has already begun positioning itself as a destination for technology investment, innovation fairs and platform-driven growth. India has already participated as a partner country in the Reflect Festival 2023 and 2024 in Limassol, where Indian startups engaged alongside their Cypriot counterparts. This demonstrates an existing bridge in innovation collaboration.
The Council will help scale up that bridge by formalising a startup bridge, under the existing institutional MoUs like the Invest India–Invest Cyprus one, to channel investment, incubation, mentorship and market entry opportunities. It will also create joint innovation challenges, hackathons and sectoral labs – fintech, AI, cybersecurity – that bring Indian scale technologies to European and Mediterranean markets via Cyprus, as well as facilitating pilot collaborations between Cypriot institutions and Indian tech firms in domains such as e-governance, digital payments, cross-border data services and regtech.
Through these efforts, India’s digital prowess can help Cyprus leapfrog in building innovation ecosystems, while Indian firms gain a gateway into the EU and Mediterranean markets.
Which Cypriot sectors do you see ready to absorb Indian digital expertise?
With India’s strengths in payments systems, regulatory technology and digital finance, collaborations with Cypriot banks and fintech outfits can upgrade systems, cross-border payment rails, compliance tools and analytics platforms. Digital supply chain platforms, IoT-based port operations and blockchain in shipping documentation are natural areas for knowledge transfer.
The existing participation of Indian startups in Reflect Festival events signals mutual interest; the Council will institutionalise this via a startup bridge and co-investment frameworks. These sectors align with the MoUs and institutional engagement already underway between India and Cyprus, enabling smoother collaboration.
Apart from the digital space, if you had to prioritise two sectors where real money could move in the near term, what would they be?
Cyprus’ natural solar resource combined with India’s cost and scale in solar, energy storage and green hydrogen, makes this sector a strong candidate. The bilateral framework already includes climate, energy and technology as priority domains for cooperation in foreign office consultations.
There is an emphasis on cooperation in education, scholarships, innovation and startups under institutional dialogues. With existing engagements, we can fast-track joint academic programmes, research labs, student exchanges and vocational training tied to green and digital sectors.
As these sectors would require relatively less gestation compared to heavy infrastructure, and because institutional goodwill and existing MoUs help lower barriers, they are among the most actionable in the near term.
IMEC faces several challenges, from geopolitical instability to supply chain vulnerability and infrastructure costs of some US$600 billion. What do you see as the most pressing and how confident are you that it won’t derail the corridor before it gains real momentum?
Coordination across jurisdictions remains the principal challenge: legal harmonisation, regulatory alignment, financing frameworks, political will and cross-border governance all demand high-level consistency.
However, India-Cyprus relations already benefit from a strong institutional backdrop. Recent rounds of Foreign Office Consultations – the sixth round took place in November 2024 – have covered trade, investment, digitalisation, innovation and connectivity. A Bilateral Defence Cooperation Programme (BDCP) for 2025 was signed, building on the earlier MoU on defence cooperation, and multiple regional chamber MoUs and bilateral trade & investment agreements are active.
These institutional layers create a foundation of trust and predictability, which is critical in sustaining momentum behind a large corridor like IMEC. By anchoring Council-led projects in these existing frameworks, we reduce the risk of misalignment. I remain confident that, with incremental success, the corridor will evolve from concept to implementation.
Looking ahead, what do you hope the Council will have achieved in the next three to five years, in terms of tangible projects and strengthening the India-Cyprus economic relationship?
In the next 3-5 years, I envision the conversion of MoUs into living instruments. The Council-Eurobank MoU will have matured into concrete financial transactions supporting cross-border deals. The MoUs signed by regional chambers will have produced active trade missions, exchange visits and business deals.
I also see a strong pipeline of joint projects in renewable energy, with solar and storage projects co-developed by Indian and Cypriot firms. In education, I see dual degree programmes and research labs, while in digital infrastructure, joint platforms will be serving Mediterranean and European markets.
Moreover, I see the institutionalisation of platforms, with the India-Cyprus Business & Innovation Forum becoming an annual flagship summit and the Council a recognised coordinating body for India-Greece-Cyprus collaboration, facilitating delegations, joint missions and policy dialogue.
Regarding trade and investment growth, the bilateral trade baseline – US$136.96 million in 2023–24 – will be significantly upgraded, with several hundred million dollars in new flows facilitated through Council-initiated projects. Cyprus will continue to maintain a strong position as an investor in India – currently, the cumulative FDI from Cyprus into India between April 2000 and March 2025 stands at about US$14.65 billion – and new pathways will open for further inflows, especially in services, logistics and technology.
India and Cyprus, as friendly partners within the EU context, will coordinate more frequently on global issues, reinforcing the strategic dimension of their relationship.
The Council’s success will lie in translating institutional goodwill and MoUs into visible, scalable and mutually beneficial projects, thereby strengthening the India-Cyprus bond and positioning our trilateral cooperation as a model for the new corridors shaping the 21st-century economy.
This interview first appeared in the October edition of GOLD magazine. Click here to view it.
