Japanese Cos. to invest heavily in India as today India is important to Japan as was China to it in 2001.  

PUNE (Maharashtra): Japanese companies are likely to invest heavily in India in the next 10-20 years, the way they did in China by the turn of the century. Off late though, the Japanese government, its corporate sector, and people, in general, have realised that India could be the real partner of Japan for the next 10 or 20 years.

In a significant statement made on Monday, Dr. Fukahori Yasukata, Consul-General of Japan in Mumbai said, “We have just started realising the importance of India. China used to be an important partner of Japan for many years, particularly from the turn of the century. When China joined WTO in 2001, Japan came to know that China is a friend and many good Japanese companies invested in China during the first 10 years of the century.”

He said this during his inaugural address made on the occasion of the launch of the year-long activities by the Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between India and Japan.

However, the Consul General called upon both India and Japan as the world’s 3^rd and 6^th largest economies of the world respectively to work together to lead the entire world, and also to contain China which, he said was creating problems in the region.

“China has been problematic for the regions, though it is important and we have to engage with China but it is not hiding its military expansion and is expanding to many parts of the region such as the South China Sea. Even India has military problems with China on the northern borders,” he added.

While admitting that it was getting increasingly difficult for Japan to contain China, Dr. Fukahori Yasukata said that the general public and private sector of Japan had started to keep its distance from China. “Many Japanese companies have decided to come out of China and move their production bases to other locations, and then they found India. Today India is to Japan what china was to Japan 20 years ago.”

In an important statement, he said that a lot of Japanese companies found India as a friendly country, and both the countries are democratic countries and based on human rights, it has freedom of press, journalism.

“We have realised this after we had 20 years of commercial relations with China. Now people (Japanese) realise that India could be the real partner of Japan for the next 10 or 20 years to come. If Japan as 3^rd largest economy in the world and India as 6^th largest economy in the world, work together, we could do anything in this region. We may be able to lead the entire world if these two democratic giants get together, and therefore it is necessary for both of us to work together to contain China which is creating some disturbance in this area,” he added.

Related article: Fresh Japanese investment skips China, 156 Japanese firms stayed away from investing in China in last one year 

Dr. Fukahori Yasukata went on to say that it’s not just the government but the common and business people who have come to realize this.

“Just like the Japanese companies invested heavily for the first 10 years of this century in China, this will happen in India now. After I came here, I talked to many Japanese businessmen and managing directors in Mumbai, which is home to big Japanese companies like Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Mizuho Bank, etc. as well as very capable young leaders too. They told me that India is the most important country for Japan in the financial sector, not just one of the most important countries.”

He disclosed that Mitsui recently acquired one of the Indian financial companies and invested heavily, and many other banks and companies are planning to invest heavily in India.

“So what happened between China and Japan would now happen between India and Japan soon.”

On this occasion, Siddharth Deshmukh, President of IJBC explained the deep-rooted historical connection between India and Japan. He recalled that in 1949 Indian first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gifted an Indian elephant to Japan at the request of the children of Japanese children. He also deliberated on the Budha connection between the two countries. Both the countries signed the peace treaty as well as established diplomatic relations in April 1952 and now are celebrating its 70^th anniversary. Deshmukh is also Founder & CEO, Shimbi Labs.

Abhishek Choudhury, Vice President, IJBC and Head Operations, Nanobiz LLC’s India disclosed that IJBC recently signed an MOU with India Japan Laboratory of Keio University to work on various exchange programmes and for writing white papers for helping countries in making specific policies. Basically, the theme of the India Japan Laboratory is they are organising online exchange programmes and one of those is animation and yoga, and this platform is called Injan Puliya

The laboratory engages students and faculty members in inter-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder (private sector, non-government organizations, and citizens) education, action research, and policy advocacy programs on issues relevant to India and Japan.