An entirely new paradigm of bilateral economic partnership will emerge between India and Japan in the next decade, led by a strong partnership of governments and businesses of both sides, said Venu Srinivasan, past president, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Tuesday.
Addressing India–Hiroshima Prefecture business matching seminar, he said that India's rising middle class was expected to be over 300 million strong by 2020 providing a huge market for important Japanese products such as autos, electronics and telecom.
As India was one of the few remaining large economies in the world with a large infrastructure development deficit, the demand for urban infrastructure, transport, energy, ports and telecom offered a huge opportunity for construction, engineering and heavy machinery sectors.
As India was rapidly emerging as a global R&D hub, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was expected to include mutually acceptable changes in the bilateral IPR regime to further strengthen IPR protection for Japanese firms, Mr. Srinivasan said.
Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor, Hiroshima Prefectural Government, said that Hiroshima was renowned for cutting edge electronics, automobile components, semi-conductors, ship building and industrial engineering pioneered by an active collaboration between research institutions and government.
Foreseeing collaboration in technological research between the two governments resulting in development of world class products, he invited investments to Hiroshima which provided an excellent base for business operations to reach out to markets in Far East, South East Asia and China.
M. Velmurugan, executive vice chairman, Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau, said the State was investor friendly attracting huge investments in automobile, electronic hardware and information technology. Kazuo Minagawa, Consul-General, Chennai Consulate General of Japan and Gayathri Sriram, Convenor, CII Tamil Nadu Women Empowerment Panel welcomed.
