Utilise CSR funds to make youths learn Japanese language, to make them employable for Japanese Business: Tomio Isogai

NEW DELHI: Owing to huge employment potential in Japan and with Japanese companies worldwide, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds should be utilized by companies in India for establishing educational institutions for teaching Japanese language, work ethics, manufacturing system, and other Japanese aspects to develop human resource (HR) in the young people of India.

It was suggested by Tomio Isogai, the Freelance Advisor on Indo-Japanese Relations and former Managing Director of Sharp India Ltd. He was addressing the corporate professionals from Japanese and Indian companies, management students, and others during the webinar “Role of Japanese Companies & Associations in Inclusive Growth of India – A Japan Perspective with focus on Saving Lives and Saving Livelihood”, jointly organized Asian Community News (ACN) Network, and Jeevitam – a livelihood platform.

Kenji Sugino, Secretary-General, Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (JCCII), and former Director (Sales and Marketing) All Nippon Airways (ANA), and Nobuhiro Takahashi, Advisor, Suggestions Committee, JCCII also addressed the audience. JCCII represents 450 Japanese companies in Delhi and NCR region in India.

While referring to the huge employment potential in Japan that has a ready requirement of 2,00,000 IT professionals now, and this demand is projected to further swell to 8,00,000 professionals by 2030, Tomio Isogai said “Corporates can set up some funding and give some grants to the aspirant students who to want to learn the Japanese language or get the scholarship in Japan. Some large corporations can even set up institutions especially for the underprivileged young talented people who might be in the remote areas and run online sessions for teaching Japanese languages. It is not difficult if infrastructure and online teaching are available and these young aspirants can be reached out anywhere.”

Currently, an Adjunct Faculty at MIT-ADT University, Pune, Isogai who was responding to a question asked by Atul Ranjit Kumar from Mitsui chemicals, said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provisioned for setting up of the foreign academic institutions in India.

In his address, Kenji Sugino, Secretary-General, JCCII, said Indo-Japan built a strong cooperative relationship in many fields.

“About 1,454 Japanese companies have expanded throughout India. Japan has been the 3rd largest country in the world, in terms of accumulated Foreign Direct Investments (2000-2019) to India, after Mauritius and Singapore. It means actually number one. The number of Japanese companies operating in India is also steadily increasing. These Japanese companies have contributed to employment in India, as well as capacity building, supply chain development, and export promotion,” said Kenji Sugino.

The JCCII Secretary-General, however, said but actually there were so many difficulties in expanding our business up to this point. Since 1958, JCCII worked as a crucial organization working towards the welfare of Japanese companies in India.

“Having started with around 20 member companies in 1958, today the organization has grown to a membership of more than 450 companies mostly in and around Delhi NCR. Also, JCCII cooperates with the Japanese Embassy and JETRO to overcome issues related to India, such as offering a suggestion to the government, and we carry out our responsibility to supervise Japan chambers of commerce all over India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai,” Kenji Sugino added.

Nobuhiro Takahashi, Advisor of Suggestion Activities of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (JCCII) presented a case study on the CSR contribution by Denso that joined JCCII in sharing many suggestions to the Indian Government on corporate policy and infrastructure development matters.

“Denso Kirloskar (DNKI) has been contributing to the society in the rural education field since 2000. It utilized two year’s CSR budget of INR 2.4 mil to support government school in Bangalore. The school has digital aided classrooms, a library, computer lab, experiential learning rooms, a full-fledged kitchen, and other facilities. In addition to the physical setup, DNKI employees participate in teaching the students and also contribute to other CSR projects related to the environment, health & Hygiene, etc,” said Nobuhiro Takahashi.

A graduate from the Osaka University of Foreign Studies and Nobuhiro Takahashi has been awarded a special recognition award from Haryana state in the year 2017. He is not only advising JCCII but also has been continuously keeping in touch with the Indian Prime Minister office and sending suggestions on various issues related to economic policy matter and infrastructure. His suggestions are duly acknowledged and considered while formulating economic policies. For example, he was instrumental in the abolition of the Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) as the government revoked it early this year in its Union Budget. This would drive more MNCs to invest in India which was a hindrance earlier because of the DDT.