August 11 I 2019 I BUSINESS TODAY I 87rime Minister Narendra Modi, on a visit to Japan for the
13th annual bilateral summit in October 2018, was hosted
by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe for a private din-
ner at Abe’s ancestral home in Yamanashi. It was the first
such reception for a foreign leader in Japan. The summit saw
32 bilateral agreements, including on Japan joining the In-
ternational Solar Alliance, assistance for India’s first bullet
train project, India-Japan digital partnership and deeper co-
operation between Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and
Indian Navy.
A year before, Abe had visited Ahmedabad for the 12th
edition of the summit. During the visit, the two prime min-
isters had overseen the groundbreaking ceremony for the
Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. India and Japan
had also concluded 15 agreements in areas ranging from
connectivity, investments, civil aviation, disaster manage-
ment, science & technology and sports.
India-Japan relationship has been steady for a long time.
The vigour has heightened in recent times. Japan has been
extending bilateral loan and grant assistance to India since
- It is India’s largest bilateral donor. Japanese overseas
development assistance (ODA) sup-
ports India’s efforts towards de-
velopment in areas such as power,
transportation, environment and
projects related to basic human
needs. India’s Ministry of Exter-
nal Affairs says some of these mega
projects – Ahmedabad-Mumbai
High Speed Rail, Western Dedicat-
ed Freight Corridor, Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor with 12 indus-
trial townships, Chennai-Bengaluru
Industrial Corridor – will transform
India in the next decade. The India
Japan Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that
came into force in August 2011 is the
guiding force on bilateral trade. It is
the most comprehensive of all such
agreements signed by India and cov-
ers not only trade in goods but also
services, movement of people, invest-
ments, intellectual property rights,
Customs procedures and other trade
issues. It envisages abolition of tar-
iffs on 94 per cent of items traded be-
tween India and Japan by 2021.
Kenji Hiramatsu, the Ambas-
sador of Japan to India, shares this
optimism. Speaking on ‘Japanese
Imperial Succession and India-Japan
Relations in the New Reiwa Era’ at
a function organised by FICCI and
the India Japan Friendship Forum in
New Delhi on June 7, he noted that the
next five years are crucial. “We hope
India, under the strong leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will
take more proactive measures to im-
prove its infrastructure and (address)
social equity and social justice issues
for its people, and also take the India-
Japan relationship to an even higher
level,” he said. Hiramatsu added that
“Japan will focus more on collabora-
tion in artificial intelligence, Internet
of Things and 5G as that is the future
of the relationship”.
Charandeep Kaur, Partner, Tri-
legal, a legal expert who has been
closely tracking the business activity
between Japan and India, says the
previous five years have seen height-
ened activity going beyond the tradi-
tional sectors of infrastructure and
auto and covering newer areas such
as e-commerce, fintech, artificial in-
telligence, healthtech and agritech.
“Japanese companies and inves-
tors have been cautiously optimistic
about opportunities in India, prefer-
ring to begin with minority (stakes)
and raising significantly once they
have understood the company and
its governance standards. There are
plenty of investments in hitherto un-$27.2
BILLION
JAPANESE
INVESTMENTS
IN INDIA SINCE
2000