FICCI Business Delegation to Japan Coinciding With Visit of The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
December 8-10, 2001, Japan

Address by Mr R S Lodha, President, FICCI

Mr. Takashi Onishi, Vice Chairman, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Mr. Teiichi Nishimura, Vice Chairman, Osaka Industrial Association,
Mr. Goenka, CII, President,
Excellencies and
Distinguished Delegates

Today I have the privilege to join the Osaka Business and Industry in extending a warm welcome to our Hon’ble Prime Minister. The 21st Century has reinforced our relationship with Japan as we witnessed the dawn of a new era with the historic visit of then Prime Minister Mori to India last year. Our Prime Minister’s presence here today will build a new edifice on the basis of our great legacy.

Our common heritage of Buddhism led us to an era of Indo-Japanese exchanges under the Nobel laureate Tagore and Japanese cultural ideologue Okakura Tenshin. From the days of Tenjiku, (heavenly abode), India today beckons Japan to create new alliances to help us leap frog in the Knowledge-driven global economy.

Today we have moved into the world of cyberspace with the global trend of integration of markets. It is clear that new opportunities will go hand in hand with new uncertainties. As we deepen our efforts to diffuse opportunities and bridge the digital divide, Indian industry is relentlessly exploring new frontiers of cooperation on the cutting edge of technology and its dissemination.

We are, however, equally keen to balance the old & the new economy. This is a daunting task as growth projections have been lowered worldwide. The implications are far reaching for all of us. Yet, we in India continue to liberalize steadily and deepen our economic reforms to encompass all spheres of economic activity. Significant strides towards privatization, delicensing and industrial de-control, lowering of tariffs and trade barriers, have created a conducive environment for foreign investors.

We are delighted that Japan Inc. has landed on our soil covering a wide spectrum including chemicals, oil refining, electronics, automobiles, industrial machinery and metallurgy and now increasingly the knowledge based sector. Yet, bilateral trade with India is only 0.8% of Japan’s global trade. Although, Japan ranks 4th in terms of our cumulative FDI approved since 1991, you account for a mere 6.6% of our total approvals. Should we not exploit the Indo-Japan synergy and use our Prime Minister’s visit to scale new heights?

We urge Japanese industry to avail the opportunities that India offers, especially since knowledge will be the driver of our relationship. We could concretize immediate partnerships in areas of infrastructure, food processing and information technology, multimedia, biotechnology, financial services, and tourism, among others. Let us pool our human resources to develop the crucial R&D hub of Asia to generate more knowledge-embodied products and increase our penetration of global markets.

Our capabilities & resources can complement your expertise to create new age synergies. We are keen to learn from your total quality management, just-in-time inventory norms and unique capacity for technological adaptation and digitalization.

In turn we have achieved global recognition in the area of software development and I.T. enabled services. The annual growth rate of software exports has been over 50 per cent and by 2008, according to Mckinsey’s projections, our IT industry is expected to be US$ 87 billion. The market for IT related industry in Japan in the next 15 years is expected to reach 60 trillion Yen or US $ 488 billion. I urge you to concretize win-win partnerships with our industry in this Sector.

Time is opportune to gain from our mutual experiences & orient our products & technologies to each other’s requirements. Our hi-tech cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad could develop satellite links with Osaka and Tokyo and be front-runners in e-commerce and e-business. We are greatly encouraged by the recent initiative of Osaka based companies to establish a 100 acre IT park in Mysore for housing off-shore Development Centers of at least 30 Japanese companies. Such links will help us spread the fruits of our joint effort across the region, in tandem with the futuristic vision of our global partnership.

We in FICCI have in our own humble way initiated this process jointly with the Japanese industry and business. Our exclusive website in Japanese language will strengthen links between our business. We also believe in walking on our two-feet, and are catalyzing partnerships in Infrastructure, Food Processing & Services Sectors. As we fully back our Governments’ efforts to create a conducive environment for enhancing Japanese investments in India, we hope that the dream of our leaders will soon metamorphose into reality.

When Prime Minister Mori visited last year, he visualized our relation of India-Japan global Partnership in the 21st century. In that spirit it is only natural that we look beyond bilateral issues to shape the emerging global agenda. Both India and Japan are party to the consensus that emerged at the WTO meet at Doha. It is now upto both our countries to join hands and collaborate on strengthening the multilateral trading system for our mutual benefit.

Recent events in our region have only reinforced the need for a greater multidimensional interaction between our two great nations for ensuring peace, stability and progress in the Asian region.

Our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s visit will initiate a new era in our bilateral relations beyond Yens & Rupees. We keenly look forward to his visionary address, that will guide us in our endeavours.

Thank you.