Shri Kapil Sibal: Japan and India must become long term partners

India is keen that Japan does not look at India as a short term trading partner, but as a long term partner- India as a manufacturing centre to access the global market. Top companies can even come to India and set up testing centres for standards for 4G and 5G for the world. This was stated by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Communications and IT while delivering the inaugural address at the Japan External Trade Organisation(JETRO) Seminar, here today. He was speaking to representatives of Japan industry,in the context of the government’s National Policy on Electronics, formulated to boost India`s Electronics Systems and Design Manufacturing industry and improve its share in the global market. One of the important objectives of this policy is to achieve a turnover of about USD 400 Billion by 2020 involving investment of about USD 100 Billion and employment to around 28 million by 2020.

The minister pointed out that India has to move towards the manufacturing sector contributing a much larger share of its economy, as by 2030, the largest number of people coming into the workforce will be Indians. He also said that a paradigm shift is occurring as regards providing services and goods in the global economic structure-it will become increasingly difficult to provide them long distance. He invited Japan to set up manufacturing in India, and partner with India for accessing the large and growing Indian market as well as the global market -beat competitors at price points, but with high quality. He also underlined the two countries’ shared values of democracy.

The minister stressed the need to invest in avionics, automotive electronics, medical electronics, solar energy and LED sectors, as these are the growing sectors in the coming years. He also spoke about having put in place incentive schemes for the electronic manufacturing sector-including provision of duty drawback and provision of incentives in the proposed Electronics Manufacturing clusters, 10 of which are proposed to come up this year. He also informed the participants in the seminar that as part of the policy, it is proposed to have a 28 million workforce by2020. He said that as 100%FDI is allowed in the Skill Development Sector, Japanese companies could set up skill training institutes, so that they would not need to train workers after they have been hired.

Shri Sibal also had meetings with Mr Kaoru Kato, President and CEO of NTT DOCOMO and with Mr. Takashi Kawamura, Chairman, Hitachi, both of whom expressed interest in deepening their association with India.

MV

(Release ID :92208)