JICA India chief pushes for opening India market further for investment

India needs to open up its market further to foreign firms and enhance ease of doing business to improve competitiveness and attract more investments from Japan in the key sector like semiconductors, said T Takuro, chief representative, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) India Office.

 

Currently, the government is thinking by the year 2047, India should become a developed country. “To reach such stages, I think maybe there are a couple of important things,” he told Business Standard.

 

India should take advantage of the size of the market. The economy seems to be stable, because of the size of the domestic market. The country can grow even without fully opening the market. But to get the competitiveness, healthy competition is necessary, and without opening the opportunity for foreign companies, maybe real competition will not be here, he said. 

Takuro said this was not to suggest that all the fields should be opened up. But if the semiconductor sector is the most important, where the industry is being created from the scratch, the government must take efforts to make everything related to it friendly for investment, he said.

 

Jica is an incorporated administrative agency, which works to contribute to the promotion of international cooperation as well as sound development of Japanese and global economies.

 

These observations by the head of Jica in India come within a few weeks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan. India and Japan have articulated a “Joint Vision for the Next Decade”, which also covers Japanese Yen (JPY) 10 trillion investment by the private sector into India. Its builds upon the progress made in the 2022-2026 target of JPY 5 trillion of public and private investment and financing from Japan to India.

 

Japan and India have recognised key sectors like semiconductors, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, and clean energy that will receive heightened priority for strategic collaboration.

 

Earlier, he made a presentation at the event, “Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (VLFM)”, organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).