India, Japan look to increase trade

India on Friday said Japan is a “natural partner” in achieving the goal of increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% in the coming years. Both the countries discussed ways of increasing bilateral trade and investments during a day-long conference in Nagoya, Japan.

A business delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in that event. “India wants to increase the contribution of manufacturing sector to GDP to 25% and Japan is a natural partner in our goals,” an official statement quoting Nirmala said here.

Currently, the manufacturing sector contributes about 17% to the country’s GDP. The government is taking steps such as improving ease of doing business and relaxing FDI norms to boost the sector.

Nirmala also met Governor of Aichi Prefecture Hideaki Ohmura in Nagoya. Hideaki acknowledged that the India Conference will further encourage the companies in Aichi Prefecture to invest in India.

Japan said that although it is the third largest foreign investor in India ($25.2 billion during April 2000-December 2016), behind Mauritius and Singapore, it can be considered a top investor as the other two countries are used by companies from across the world to route investments.

Nirmala urged Ohmura to consider diversification of investment in other sectors such as food processing, textiles, medical equipment, electronics and IT in India. The minister invited him to lead a delegation of Japanese companies to MSME clusters in India to explore partnership and investment opportunities.