Piyush Goyal pitches India as investment hub for Japan firms, stresses on trade expansion

It is important that Japan and India expand trade and business relationships, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday while pitching the country as an attractive investment destination to Japanese investors.

Speaking at the third edition of the Invest India Exclusive Investment Forum - Japan Edition, through video conference, Goyal said, "I have the confidence that we can overcome any adversity and undoubtedly we will come out successful in any which way whether in geopolitical, strategic matters, whether in trade, economy and industry, and more importantly Japan is one of the most important and trusted trading partner."

The Minister said the government is preparing strategies and action plans to set out a red carpet for global investors to continue to choose India as the preferred destination for investments. Goyal highlighted reforms initiated by Central and state governments that managed to take India up by more than 65 places in the last five years in the Ease of Doing Business ranking of the World Bank.

Dwelling on the Indo-Japan close relationship, Goyal said that both share common interests in economic and strategic fields. He said that economic relations between India and Japan have vast potential for growth.

"Japan’s interest in India is increasing due to a variety of reasons including India’s large and growing market. With its large population and growing consumer base, India is the preferred destination for Japanese investments. There are more than 1400 Japanese companies to work within India and well treated 5000 business establishments around the country,” he said.

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Goyal said that Japan and India have a fruitful relationship for a long time in various sectors including automobiles, chemicals, consumer goods, food processing, and today's digital world provides numerous opportunities. The partnerships thus far have focused on technical cooperation and we are now looking to Japan as a strategic and investment development partner.

Meanwhile, a senior Commerce Ministry official said India is planning to set up the 13th Japanese industrial township in Assam, a move aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing and strengthening economic ties between the two countries. He said that they are working on a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas and clusters across the country.

India has 12 Japanese industrial townships across nine states. These are integrated industrial parks with ready to move in infrastructure facilities, with world-class infrastructure, plug and play factories, pre-approved licenses, and investment incentives exclusively for Japanese companies.

Improving trade relations with Tokyo assumes fresh significance as New Delhi now tries to ease its trade dependence on China. Especially in the lucrative tech sector, India wants to keep Chinese companies out, with the recent example being the app bans. As part of the 'Make in India' and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiatives, the government is eyeing to attract investments in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector and is luring multinational firms, including those based in Japan and East Asia, many of whom are looking to shift capacities out of China following the Coronavirus pandemic.

(PTI Photo)

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