Japan sees $20 bn trade with India

MUMBAI: Japan is aiming $20 billion worth bilateral trade with India by 2010 once the long-pending economic partnership agreement (EPA) is signed between the two countries.

Hirotsugu Hagiuda, consul general, Consulate General of Japan, said, “The EPA is a very important framework for promoting business between the two countries and has potential of generating enormous revenues.”

Talking to DNA Money, Hagiuda said, Japan was hopeful that the EPA, which was mooted long time ago, will be signed in 2008. “There have been five rounds of negotiations and the sixth round is scheduled to be held later this month in New Delhi,” he said.

Hagiuda said the Japanese government wants India to reduce duties on Japanese products substantially. “We do not impose any duty on goods imported from India, but India, because of its customs structures, does has duties on several of our products,” he said. Because of this, many companies in Japan are not ready to export to India.

“Many of them also want to set up facilities in India,” he said. Once the EPA is signed, the Indian government can look forward to a jump in investments from Japan, he said, adding the major investments are expected in industrial and automotive segments.
Hagiuda said the annual trade between the two countries touched an all-time high of $10.2 billion in 2007, up 22.6% from the $8 billion in 2006.

He said in 2006-07, Japan invested $1.49 billion in India, almost three times higher than $514 million investment in the earlier fiscal. “The trade between the two countries is rising every year, and with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the investments from Japan are expected to go up tremendously,” he said.

The Japanese government is main promoter of DMIC. The project is expected to give a major fillip to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. “Apart from raising bilateral trade, Japan is willing to invest in India’s infrastructure and that is the reason why we have participated in DMIC,” he said.

The Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry and the Indian ministry of commerce and industry had signed a MoU some time back. Japan is expected to fund the major part DMIC.

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