Japan offers huge potential for Indian IT Industry: Official

Bangalore, Jun 10 (UNI) Indian investors can look for better opportunities in Japan which offered great growth prospects in IT and allied industry apart from Pharmaceutical, aeronautics and material designing space, Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) Director General Kazumasa Kuboki said today.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Invest Japan' organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce here, he said the Asian giant faced severe shortage of professionals in the software and material designing area and Pharmaceutical industry is the other sector that offered high growth rate to the Indian industry.

Indian IT majors like Infosys, TCS and Wipro, apart from several others, had successfully expanded their business to Japan, while pharma and auto components industries had begun to reap the dividends, he said.

"Japan is not longer too protectionist. Active efforts have been initiated to ease industry regulations, while investment restrictions only remain in sensitive industries," he said.

He said advantages of doing business in Japan, the second largest market in the world, included sophisticated consumer with high purchasing power. It had world class companies and SMEs with unique technologies who could be partnered with. Loyalty and commitment to long term partnerships and Japan being the center for technological innovation and product development.

Devadas Parakal, CEO of Tokyo-based DTWO solutions, who spoke on opportunities in IT/ITeS business, said the Indian companies had been only the buyers from the Japanese economy for several decades and it was time the country invested in Japan and reap dividends.

"Japanese demographically is a very attractive country for the Indian IT sector as its employable work force was decreasing fast and by 2010, 30 per cent of the population of 127 million would be over 60 years," he said.

Aviation industry in Japan would be the other lucrative field for the Indian industry as auto majors like Honda and Mitsubishi would now be entering into aircraft manufacturing in a big way.

"Japanese had a better speed technology before the World war (II). However they were not let to develop their aviation technology for 20 years after the war. Now Japanese companies are coming out with big plans to set up manufacturing bases in aviation. Indian should cash in on this," he added.

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