India-Japan Business Summit organised by Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) and BCIC highlighted huge opportunity for Indian MSME’s to collaborate with Japanese MSMEs
Bengaluru, NFAPost: India-Japan Business Summit organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) along with associated and concept partner Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) and knowledge partner PWC suggested that collaboration between Indian and Japanese companies could largely enhance the state’s vision of a one trillion-dollar economy by 2032.
Themed “Make in India with Japan for the Globe,” India-Japan Business Summit featured prominent speakers who opined that there were several industry verticals such as defence, aerospace, manufacturing, information technology and chemical industry where both countries could collaborate to further trade and investments.
Delivering keynote address at the event, Japanese Consul General in Bengaluru Tsutomu Nakane said through this summit Japan aims to explore the abundant range of opportunities in both nations, enabling businesses to flourish and grow.
“As of October 2022, 228 companies have set up 537 offices all over Karnataka and the number of Japanese companies expanding into Karnataka is also steadily increasing. Cooperation between Japan and Karnataka portrays that business is not only important for the development of bilateral relations but is also of great importance to the world,” said Japanese Consul General in Bengaluru Tsutomu Nakane.
By investing in or setting up industry in India, Japanese Consul General in Bengaluru Tsutomu Nakane said Japanese companies can expand their exports to Middle East countries and Africa through India.
“Japan-India business cooperation will bring synergy to both economies by combining Japanese manufacturing know-how with India’s information technology capabilities and its abundant talented workforce. To promote such cooperation, it is necessary for Japan to recognize available business opportunities and for India to further improve amenities and infrastructure in and around industrial parks,” said Japanese Consul General in Bengaluru Tsutomu Nakane.
In her keynote address, Kirloskar Systems Chairperson & MD and Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India Chairperson Geetanjali Kirloskar said India has a relatively stable economy, which represents huge growth potential for Japanese companies to set up a very strong, competitive manufacturing supply chain.
“There is a huge potential for the two countries to develop lighthouse projects in industries which present potential for collaboration such as the chemical industry, which is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. The defence and aero industry which is looking to indigenize sub-assemblies with newer and more autonomous manufacturing processes is another big opportunity,” said Kirloskar Systems Chairperson & MD and Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India Chairperson Geetanjali Kirloskar.
Also, she highlighted Japanese startups are now looking at Bangalore very seriously. “However, there are two challenges, namely the need to develop a quality vendor in India and the need for quality skilling. We still have a lot of hard work to do in improving the skill quality of the workforce,” said Kirloskar Systems Chairperson & MD and Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India Chairperson Geetanjali Kirloskar.
India Japan Business Council (IJBC) President Siddharth Deshmukh said the current geopolitics gives enormous opportunities for Indian companies to collaborate with Japanese companies.
“It is a reality that Indo-Japanese time tested relationship should be further strengthened by giving confidence to Japanese companies to invest in critical technologies and product development. Also, through joint research and development initiatives, India and Japan can unlock vast potential and propel their economies to unprecedented levels of success,” said India Japan Business Council (IJBC) President Siddharth Deshmukh.
Delivering the Inaugural address, BCIC President L Ravindran said with Japan’s commitment to invest five trillion dollars in India as announced by their former Prime Minister in 2022 there is a huge potential for small and medium enterprises in Japan to collaborate and conduct business with similar enterprises in India.
“It is essential to prioritize specific sectors such as infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, global mobility, information technology and healthcare as they play a pivotal role in shaping their collective future and achieving investment targets,” said BCIC President L Ravindran.
He also said BCIC has set up an office in Japan with a three-pronged strategy to promote Karnataka as an investment destination, take a delegation of industrialists from Karnataka to Japan and host a delegation of industrialists from Japan to Karnataka.
PwC India Partner Mukesh Agarwal said global economic trends position India uniquely for new investments which is essentially driven by India’s enhanced ease of doing business, attractive industrial policies and incentives, production-based incentives to boost manufacturing ecosystem, favourable cost of doing business and India’s highly talented workforce.
“India is witnessing continued interest from Japanese companies and there is a huge potential for collaboration which is much larger than what we see today. Japanese companies can leverage the opportunities emerging in sunrise sectors which are enabling the growth of new investments in India,” said PwC India Partner Mukesh Agarwal.
Setting the context of the summit, Toyota Tsusho India Vice President and BCIC Advisor A Murali said the diplomatic relationship between Government of India and Government of Japan is of very high order.
“This summit offers a unique platform for business leaders, policy makers and academicians to come together and discuss various aspects of economic ties between the two countries and share best business practices. The summit aims to explore new areas of collaboration between the two nations and facilitate exchange of thoughts and people to people contact,” said Toyota Tsusho India Vice President and BCIC Advisor A Murali.
Thematic sessions at the summit included panel discussions on Unlocking the Secrets of Japanese Manufacturing Excellence, Revolutionizing Global Mobility and Electronics Manufacturing: Collaborative Strategies for India and Japan, Building World-Class Infrastructure for Make in India: A Collaborative Effort between India and Japan and Unleashing India’s Talent Pool in IT, Healthcare, and Technology for Japan. The day-long summit was attended by over 200 delegates representing government, Industry, and academia.
