India’s connections with Southeast Asia are rooted in history in terms of geography, civilization, culture, economy and strategy. These connections became deeper since the 1990s as India initiated the policy of ‘Look East’ that resulted in manifold growth with ASEAN and Singapore. The initiation of ‘Look East Policy’ opened the door for Singaporean Indians for investments and interaction with their motherland. Through the ‘Look East Policy’ the distance between India and ASEAN ended and India was connected with this region and especially Singapore through trade relations. With this policy, India was able to enter this region and this was the chance for the Indian people to revitalize and energize their social and cultural bonds with their motherland (Pande 2017). These relations were further intensified after 2014 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched ‘Act East Policy’. While ‘Look East Policy’ was launched by India in the backdrop of the critical economic situation, the ‘Act East Policy’ is aimed at strengthening our relations in terms of cultural, political and strategic dimensions. Therefore, this paper aims to study and analyse the role of the Indian diaspora as a soft power for making strong bilateral bonds between India and Singapore with special reference to the political and economic scenario.

印度与东南亚的联系在地理、文明、文化、经济和战略方面都植根于历史。自 1990 年代以来，随着印度发起“向东看”政策，导致与东盟和新加坡的多方面增长，这些联系变得更加深入。“向东看政策”的启动为新加坡印度人打开了投资和与祖国互动的大门。通过“东向政策”，印度与东盟之间的距离消失了，印度通过贸易关系与该地区特别是新加坡联系在一起。通过这项政策，印度能够进入该地区，这是印度人民振兴和激发他们与祖国的社会和文化纽带的机会（Pande 2017）。2014 年后，随着印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪正式启动“向东行动政策”，这些关系进一步加强。印度在严峻的经济形势下推出了“东向政策”，而“东向政策”旨在加强我们在文化、政治和战略层面的关系。因此，本文旨在研究和分析印度侨民作为软实力的作用，以在印度和新加坡之间建立牢固的双边关系，并特别参考政治和经济情景。