Resolve business related issues – Hiramatsu

Often considered that the corporate Japan’s presence in India was not strong, Japanese Ambassador in New Delhi has given an update on the increase in the numbers of businesses and companies.

Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu said 1,441 companies from his country were operating in the world’s fastest growing economy as of October 2018, up 5% or 72 companies from 1,369 in Oct 2017.

Japanese business establishments were 5,102 as of Oct 2018, also an increase of 5% or by 264 establishments from 4,838 a year ago, according to data from the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi.

Ambassador Hiramatsu reported a significant increase in the number of companies in metal manufacturing and services. Manufacturing sector accounted for half of the total Japanese companies.

Maharashtra has the biggest presence of Japanese businesses with 810, followed by Tamil Nadu 620, Haryana 609, Karnataka 529, Gujarat 383 and Delhi 340.

“We have completed the annual survey of Japanese business establishments in India… the number of Japanese companies in India has reached 1,441 as of October 2018, which is an increase of 72 companies or 5% as compared to the previous year,” the Press Trust of India quoted Hiramatsu on the survey.

However, the Ambassador called on Indian leadership to resolve issues related to tax, customs, financial and capital regulations as well as infrastructure. Once such issues are resolved, it would help achieve “our mutual goal of double the number of Japanese companies and foreign direct investments in India in five years”, Hiramatsu has written to Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.

Japan has invested US$28.16 billion in India between April 2000 and June 2018, according to media reports of 24 Dec 2018.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has increased to US$15.17 billion in 2017-18 from US$13.6 billion in 2016-17 but is in favour of Japan.

India and Japan have a free trade agreement since August 2012 and Japanese project financing being the largest in the Indian market, which is increasingly seeking Japanese expertise in all spheres.

Indian business community has often expressed concern about thin presence of Japanese business, given India’s desire to seek technologies and adopt business models from them to be globally competitive. fiinews.com