Japan Inc seeks free and open investment climate in India
12 Nov 2016 10:03 PM GMT
Japanese business leaders and investors on Friday said India is an attractive manufacturing base and market that has a huge potential for business but sought more “free and open” investment climate and relaxation of land acquisition policies.
Chairman of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Japan’s most influential business lobby, Sadayuki Sakakibara, while addressing the business forum meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi especially referred to the need for relaxing norms on land acquisition and suggested that India should have bidding processes.
He said that Japanese companies have “deepest regards for Modi’s “strong leadership” and hoped that his government will address these issues.
“There is a high potential ahead for the bilateral collaboration to reach its full potential. There is a need for further improvemennt....There is a need for free and open investment climate,” he said.
He also noted the progress made on Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India.
Referring to the growing friendship between India and Japan in various fields, including political and diplomatic, he said Japanese firms have benefited from this.
India with 1.2 billion people, a big middle class segment and an competitive workforce, is an attractive destination as a manufacturing base and market, he said.
He noted that 1,200 Japanese companies are already in India and Japanese FDI has grown six times in 10 years.
He appreciated Modi’s campaign like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’.
He said the ninth meeting of India-Japan Business Forum, which was held earlier in the day, had made a number of recommendation and these should be implemented.
Akio Mimura, Chairman of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said he looks forward to building economic ties. He appreciated India’s reform measures and referred to Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), saying it is the symbol of India-Japan cooperation.
He said there is need to invest further in such mega projects. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 14.51 billion in 2015-16. India received USD 20.96 billion FDI from Japan during April 2000 and March 2016.
Huge opportunities in India,want to make it most open economy: PM Modi
Presenting India as a land of “incredible” opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invited Japanese companies to invest, saying substantial finances are needed for development of the country and reforms were underway to make it the world’s “most open” economy.
Addressing top Japanese business leaders here, he said India wants “greater influx of Japanese investments” and “for this, we will be proactive in addressing your concerns”.
He said his government was committed to “further refine our policies and procedures” to boost ‘Make in India’ and was putting in place a “stable, predictable and transparent” regulatory mechanisms.
He mentioned progress on GST and talked about other “decisive steps” to usher in reforms in policies and laws to make India an attractive destination for foreign investment.
“Today, India is on the path of several major transformations. We have taken decisive steps and built a governance system that will help India realise its potential.
The results are already visible,” the Prime Minister told the luncheon session organised by Japanese business chambers Keidanren, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Japan-India Business Forum.
Noting that India’s development needs are “huge and substantial”, he said there are unprecedented opportunities for Japanese companies in the country.
Explaining why the Japanese companies should invest in India, he said: “Even against a weak international economic scenario, the news from India is of strong growth and abundant opportunities. It is of incredible opportunities, and about India’s credible policies.”
Modi, who is on his second visit here since becoming the Prime Minister in May 2014, said that in 2015, the Indian economy “grew faster than other major economies” and “the World Bank and IMF assess this trend to continue”.
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