For many years, I have been following progress in technology and urbanization in Japan. At a personal level I have been a great admirer of Japanese work, culture and history.
I believe that there are many areas where India can benefit from Japan and Japan can benefit from India. We are at a point in our development cycle where we need close coupling or tighter coupling with Japan and the India-Japan Business leader's forum is means of this. By this Forum, we aim to bring together the best from both countries, not only in the field of business and industry but also in art, culture, education, health and many other activities so that it can begin people to people dialogue. I think it is important to have increased dialogue between people at various levels.
Huge opportunities exist for both countries in each other's land. India and Japan share a warm and close relationship and Japan is an important partner in India's infrastructure development. The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Development Corridor (DMIDC) is the largest infrastructure project under implementation. Besides infrastructure, electronic hardware is another key area where India and Japan can collaborate. The demand for electronic hardware in India is increasing rapidly and Japan's support in meeting this demand would be important. India has emerged as a key destination for foreign investors in recent years as a result of economic liberalization and increasing integration of India with the global economy. The government of India has opened up multi-brand retail and civil aviation markets to 51 and 49 per cent FDI respectively and more reforms in insurance and pension sectors, among others are in the pipeline.
We appreciate the policies of the Indian government to promote economic reforms aimed at developing industrial and social infrastructure, including power supply, roads, railways, ports along with the development of logistics and industrial parks. I strongly supported India-Japan cooperation in various projects like Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Mumbai and Delhi, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and projects under the concept of South India Core Nodal development. In my point of view, the successful joint ventures between India and Japan in the auto sector could be a role model for Indian and Japanese collaboration in other sectors including services.
During last one year government of India has taken several measures to drive growth in the Indian economy and the initiatives extended not only to industry and commerce, but also tax measures, legislation and other areas. Key economic bills are on the table and there has been good progress on Goods and Services Tax and Direct Taxes Code to streamline the taxation system.
I think at this stage in India's development, we need Japanese relationship to expedite our process of modernization; Japan also needs India in many ways. The new Japanese government could be looking at exploring possibilities to export reactors and civilian nuclear technology to India. India is seeing a major surge in power demand for rapidly growing Indian industry and to meet the growing demand more nuclear power projects are very seriously considered.
The Indian services sector has a strong interest in the Japanese market, especially in field such as IT, Information Technology enabled services and professional services. Technology development and technology transfer are essential to make bilateral economic ties stronger. In addition to manufacturing fields including automobiles, machinery and chemical industry emphasis also needs to be given to electronic hardware manufacturing, telecommunication equipment, heavy industries, Rail transit system, cutting edge technologies in manufacturing and technological exchange in sector of agriculture and environment management. As part of the improvement to infrastructure in the power sector in India, Japan-India Cooperation in construction of nuclear power plants is strategically important.
Japan and India have shared a cordial and friendly relationship historically. In addition, both countries have great potential to develop strategic economic partnerships based on mutually complementary relationship. I hope, together we can create growth and prospects for both countries. The land of Rising Sun is smiling on India. I want to take advantage of this window of opportunity. I believe if we do it right, India will change and Japan will also change, but it will need a lot of work, it will need leadership, it will need sharp vision and lots of work from all of us. With mutual effort and understanding we can build a stronger bridge and better tomorrow.
(Prakash Singh is associated with Bharat Forge ltd)