Japanese Cos, angel investors keen on real estate, amusement parks, fintech, IT, food & beverages sectors
On a week-long Diwali trip to India, the Japanese delegation visited India’s leading real estate company Raheja Developers, Fun n Food Water Park, the office of PayTM, smart trading firm Komon and others.
NEW DELHI: A Japanese delegation of entrepreneurs, senior corporate executives and angel investors was on a week-long visit to India recently to not only get familiar with fast-evolving Indian economic trends but also to explore possibilities of collaborations and investment in multiple sectors including real estate, amusement parks, fintech, AI & IT (information technology) supported trading, food & beverages and others.
Led by Sachin Chowdhery, a Japan-based Angel Investor, Entrepreneur and Author, and former Board Member of Change Co., Ltd. (Listed in Tokyo Stock Market), and Hitoshi (Jin) Uehara, Chairman and founder, MYNET Inc. (Listed on Tokyo Stock Market), the “Sachin & Jin Japan Delegation” was in New Delhi from November 8 to 14. Besides enjoying the festival of lights Diwali and visiting 7th wonder of the world Taj Mehal in Agra, the delegation members visited India’s leading real estate company, Raheja Developers, Fun n Food Water Park, office of PayTM, smart trading firm Komon.
Other members of the delegation included Shuzo Narita, Former Vice President and COO, CrowdWorks, Inc (Listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange), Board of Director LinkWell and Vivid Garden;
Retsu Kitagawa, Founder, and CEO, SmartDrive Inc (Listed on Tokyo Stock Market); Masanori (Nori) Kawana, Managing Director of East Asia Fanatics Inc, world’s biggest sports digital platform looking to expand in India and SE Asia; Ms. Akiko Asami, CMO, CPO and Director of TIGER Corporation; Issey Maeda, a serial entrepreneur, an angel investor, and founder/CEO of DXHR INC, a venture builder company; Taro Saito, CEO and founder, Communication Designer, dof inc., Co-founder CC inc, Non Executive Director ZOZO, Sansan, CARTA HOLDINGS, For startups (Listed at Tokyo Stock Market); Koichiro Toda, Co-Founder & CEO, CC Inc. (Former Dentsu Creative Director) Creative Director/Art Director; Yusuke Asakura, Founding partner of Animal Spirits (VC), Former CEO of Mixi Inc.; Ms. Akeyama Yumi, CEO, Human Network Service Corp (Listed at Tokyo Stock Market); and Ms. Onuki Emiko, Vice President Human Network Service Corp.
The delegation members said that they were eager to know about upcoming business opportunities in India, planned to do new things in the Indian market, or exploring collaboration with Japanese companies in the future.
While hosting the delegation, Navin M Raheja, Chairman & Managing Director, Raheja Developers Group (www.raheja.com) – a renowned real estate and infrastructure company, and former Chairman of the Advisory Council of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), said that the Indian real-estate sector was booming with opportunities for foreign investment, and it offered the maximum return of investment (ROI) in shortest possible time.
“India’s real estate sector has seen a three-fold increase in foreign institutional inflows between 2017 and 2022, according to a market research report. This growth is attributed to structural and policy reforms that have enhanced transparency and ease of doing business in the sector. Interestingly, Foreign investments accounted for 81% of total investments in real estate during the period, driven by investor-friendly FDI policies, increased transparency in deals, and higher investment limits,” Mr. Raheja added.
Navin M Raheja is a self-made entrepreneur who started his career with less than $100 and today he is executing real estate projects worth over $ 2 billion in Delhi NCR. His company is a zero-debt organization. Today, Raheja Developers is one of the largest real estate companies in India with projects over 27 million sq. ft. at various stages of execution. The company has already delivered appx 26.5 million sq. ft. of mainly residential and commercial projects including farmhouses, plotted development, and hotel properties.
During the India tour, the Japanese delegation also visited Polo Amusement Park Limited’s flagship project Fun N Food Water Park in New Delhi. The company promotor Santokh Chawla and Director Shravan Chawla took the delegation around the park facility to show the slides and rides designed and manufactured by their company. As a member of the World Water Park Association, USA. the Fun N Food Water Park offers India’s largest collection of Water slides and attractions for the toddler learning how to swim and to the Water sports enthusiast seeking a thrill. The company’s flagship project Fun ‘N’ Food Water Park is an endeavor to create a fusion of our rich Indian legacy and modern recreational facilities.
“Blessed with the virtue of low cost of production, India’s amusement and water park industry is an untapped and billions-dollar industry potential. The availability of cheap labour and abundant raw material makes India competitive when compared with other global players based in Europe or those in China,” said Mr. Chawla.
He said, “We own a global experience of setting up amusement and water parks across many countries and therefore offer an excellent opportunity to the investors from Japan. Previously too we had entered into a collaboration with Japan-based Patine Corporation & Leisure Industries.”
