Indian government programmes like Make in India, Startup India and Production-Linked Incentive schemes support foreign investment and make India an attractive destination for the China-plus-one strategy, they said during a panel discussion on ‘Charting the future of the Indo-Japan corridor’. “Japan may have capital but India has a place to place that capital. Japan may have discipline and processes. India has vibrancy and growth,” said Koichi Zaiki, chief executive, Asia-Pacific, at the Mizuho Financial Group.
“There are several positive stories of Indo-Japanese business collaborations like Suzuki and Honda in cars, Kawasaki in motorcycles, Kansai in paints, JSW-JFE collaboration in steel. Japan can learn from India too: nimbleness, focus on affordable quality, global vision, even for startups, there’s a lot now,” he said. “There are 1,500 Japanese companies operating here, and 90% of them present in India for more than a decade are profitable. In surveys, Japanese companies say India is their most favoured investment destination and score is increasing every year,” Zaiki said, adding: “Seniority of Japanese delegations to investigate investment in India is now at the C-suite level rather than at the mid-management level.” Credit Saison senior managing executive officer Kosuke Mori also said there is a lot of interest among Japanese businesses to come to India. It’s almost like a FOMO (fear of missing out), he said, adding that there are also “lots of similarities based on common values”. Speaking at the session moderated by Deloitte India senior partner Vivek Gupta, the executives said there are fewer opportunities for Japanese companies to grow at home compared with India due to challenges like a shrinking population and slowing spending. Cash-rich Japanese companies are under pressure from shareholders to either give back their excess cash as dividends or invest it in a meaningful way. And India, with all its attractiveness, is a natural destination for that, Zaiki said. “The recent India upgrade by the rating agencies is encouraging,” Zaiki added.
“Whenever a Japanese company wants to invest in India, they contact banks like us. There are a lot of requests in Japan, asking us to make a pitch for India in the board meeting of the Japanese company,” the Mizuho Financial executive said.
Credit Saison India is a rare Japanese consumer finance company outside the country. “When I came to India in 2018, we were encouraged,” Mori said. “This market has the potential, the regulator is so disciplined and progressive, the government and the regulator have put in place digital infrastructure like Jan-Dhan stake and UPI… These are amazing for new-age NBFCs like us to fill the credit demand and supply gap, which is much needed to be addressed for India to grow.”
