New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) Suzuki Motor President Toshihiro Suzuki and top executives of trading giant Itochu will be among the business leaders of 50 Japanese companies accompanying Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the India-Japan annual summit, scheduled for the first week of July at Assam's Guwahati.
The Japanese business delegation is expected to focus on investment opportunities, industrial cooperation and supply chain partnerships, according to a report in Nikkei Asia.
This will be Prime Minister Takaichi's first visit to India since taking office in October 2025.
On June 13, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state was preparing to welcome a "powerful global leader" next month, without naming the visiting dignitary.
The visit to Guwahati is expected to give a booster shot to the expanding collaboration between India and Japan in the semiconductor industry at a time when Assam is also emerging as a hub for semiconductor production.
Economic security covering semiconductors, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and information and communications technology is a key element of the India-Japan strategic partnership.
The summit launched a joint initiative to secure supply chains for critical goods like telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, semiconductors, and clean energy. It also reaffirmed the bilateral strategic partnership to support a free and open Indo-Pacific, expanding joint exercises across all military branches and collaborating on naval technology.
A component of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific concept that Japan announced in 2023 was the creation of an industrial corridor linking the Bay of Bengal with northeastern India. The governments of Japan and India have now begun accelerating this initiative.
At the 15th annual summit held in Tokyo on August 29-30 last year, Prime Minister Modi and his then Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba reinforced their "Special Strategic and Global Partnership". The summit established a roadmap for the next decade across economics, security, and technology.
As per the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Survey for 2024, India maintained its position as the top promising country over the next 3 years with a vote share of 58.7 per cent, up from 48.6 per cent in 2023. India ranked 1st for the 15th consecutive year as the Most Promising Country in the Long-term (Next 10 Years). Many companies cited the 'future growth potential of the local market' as a promising reason for investing in India.
Japanese FDI in India has increased in recent years. Japanese outward FDI to India in 2022-23 and 2023-24 stood at $1.79 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively, with $1.36 billion in 2024-25 (up to December 2024). Cumulatively, from 2000 until December 2024, the investments in India have been around $43.2 billion, ranking Japan fifth among source countries for FDI.
Japanese FDI into India has mainly been in the automobile, electrical equipment, telecommunications, chemical, financial (insurance), and pharmaceutical sectors.
The number of Japanese companies registered in India is 1,400, with manufacturing firms accounting for half the total, according to the latest joint survey by the Embassy of Japan in India and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). These Japanese companies have a total of nearly 5000 business establishments in India. They include liaison and branch offices in India as well as local subsidiaries. More than 100 Indian companies are working in Japan.
--IANS
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