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Over half-a-dozen Japanese companies, including Miyachi Corp and Tokachi Corp, have evinced interest in making new investments in Uttar Pradesh.
The proposed investments could be a big booster for the state’s economy facing investment famine and slowdown due to the coronavirus induced lockdown.
Official sources said here that the investment proposals include developing five fish hatcheries in the state with high-end technology, putting up a 100 MW solar park for irrigation as well as setting up an agri processing park.
These proposals came forth in a video conference between UP MSME, Investment and Export Promotion Minister Sidharth Nath Singh and the Japanese companies here on Tuesday. The video conference was also attended by Indian ambassador to Japan, Sanjay Verma.
The UP government is hard-selling to the potential investors its GIS-mapped several thousand acres of land available in different parts of the state as well as its vast network of expressways and air connectivity, which is being constantly upgraded and strengthened.
The interaction was part of the UP government’s initiative to woo multinational companies of various countries that are keen to relocate from China, post-coronavirus pandemic.
“We have been holding country-specific interactions regularly and it was during our interaction with the Japanese that we got some solid proposals that we hope will mature soon,” the minister said, adding that “the state government is very serious about increasing its exports to various countries and is going about it in a planned manner”.
Talking about the possibility of increasing exports to Japan, Singh said that at present, China’s exports to Japan stood at a massive $173 billion/year while India’s exports to Japan were in the vicinity of $4.8 billion per annum.
“China’s exports to Japan have started getting disturbed due to geopolitical reasons. With the sentiment going against China, and no country willing to engage with it, the supply chain has been disturbed. India can actually take advantage of this and can pitch in for a larger share of exports to Japan. Even if we assume that 10 per cent of the supply chain is disturbed, it means huge export opportunity,” the minister said.
Currently, UP’s exports to Japan are worth $103.2 million, out of which the share of machine parts and machinery is a quarter, followed by essential oils clothing, garments, footwear and carpets.
The minister said that in all the interactive country sessions that he had chaired, the main question asked by all the companies was whether land was available.
“To address this issue, we have started offering large land banks to investors. We have already notified 85,000 acres land for industries in the eastern part of the state, which will cut across the eastern dedicated railway freight corridor. In the central region, we have 3,000 acres area for ready to move industries and another 2,600 acres ready for companies interested to invest in the defence corridor. Also, 3,000 acres are ready in the western region of the state near Meerut and another 5,000 acres land is available near the Jewar airport,” he said.
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