Japan to recruit 200,000 IT professionals from India to fill manpower gap

After a year of lay-offs by Indian IT companies, IT professionals now have a reason to cheer, as Japan is looking to hire about 200,000 professionals from India in the coming months.

“Currently there are around 920,000 IT professionals in the country and there is an immediate demand for more than 200,000 IT professionals from India, which is likely to further swell to 800,000 professionals by 2030," The Economic Times quoted Maeda, Executive Vice President at Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) as saying. 

JETRO is a government agency which promotes trade between Japanese firms and other countries.

According to Maeda, who was speaking at the India-Japan Business Partnership Seminar in Bengaluru, the Japanese government is also looking to collaborate with companies specifically from Hyderabad.

The Japanese government is also planning to issue Green Cards for highly skilled professionals. Green Cards will help professionals to get permanent resident status in as short as one year. 

Maeda said Japan is looking to revolutionise its manufacturing process by adopting new and emerging technologies.

He further said that Japan has been outsourcing some of its IT recruitments to countries such as China and Vietnam. India, he said, is losing out on the oppurtunity due to language barrier, as unlike other countries people from India were not learning Japanese.

Apart from the IT industry, Maeda said Japan was looking to invest in India's pharma industry.