Focus on key sectors will help Japanese firms in India: Mitsubishi MD

Thinking regionally and focusing on particular sectors will help Japanese companies achieve success quicker in India, Mitsubishi Corporation India CMD Eisuke Shiozaki said here today.

He was speaking on "Experiences of Japanese Business in India" at the Ahmedabad Management Association here.

"Mid-90s (is) when the first wave of Japanese companies enter India. The second wave comes in around 2005. (In mid-90s) GDP was not grown, but some companies were looking for some markets after China. After 2005, they clearly saw this country blooming," he said.

"Mitsubishi only entered, or re-entered India, after 2012....Even if we had entered India, we had lots of tax issues with Indian government, which de-motivated us....As for Mitsubishi, this is the third wave. Mitsubishi has been rather late in coming here," he said.

The Japanese or Korean companies which have been in India for 20 years are getting considerable profit margins, but half of those which are here for ten years are still struggling, he said.

"Why does it take so much time for Japanese companies to be successful?" he asked.

While in the past bureaucracy and lack of infrastructure were the issues, now the reason is that Japanese companies take a lot of time to investigate the market, and often their analysis differs from the actual outcome, he said.

"It was very difficult for Japanese companies to grasp what this country is," he said.

Citing the example of Sony and Unichan, he said for them, focusing on particular regions and sectors has paid off.

India still sends very few students to Japan, and even fewer Indians learn Japanese, Shiozaki said.

"There is a big gap between these two cultures. But as the business grows, cultural differences start to narrow down. India is India, not South East Asia. Let's think regionally, and focus on sectors," he said.