Tokyo Calling: Modi drums up India story, promise red carpet, not red tape

TOKYO: No place like India to do business. Blend Japan’s hardware skills and India’s software to create everyday miracles. This is economic diplomacy, with a flourish. Literally, banging the drums in a symbolic “jugalbandi,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a charm offensive in Tokyo and told Japanese investors that red carpet, not red tape, awaits them if they come to India.

A day after his meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two nations launched a path-breaking investment partnership, Modi played the chief salesman and choreographer of the India Story.

“There is no other place more suited to you than India,” said Modi at a meeting organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and Nikkei on September 2.

Modi underlined that Japan and India were at a stage where both countries were looking to do business with each other. If New Delhi was looking east, he added, Japan, too, was in looking towards India for an attractive low-cost manufacturing destination.

Advantage India: 3Ds

India was attractive to Japan as it had the three D’s: democracy, demography and demand, he said. Leveraging India’s growing ambition for infrastructural development, Modi pointed out that over 50 Indian cities were in line to start work on new metro projects. “Have you thought how big this business is?” asked the Prime Minister.

Modi added that his government had got the ball rolling to make India more business-friendly by raising the FDI in defence, railways and insurance sector.

“Without Japan, India is incomplete and without India, Japan is incomplete.”

Were Japan’s hardware skills and India’s software prowess to come together they could create miracles, said Modi.

Arc of knowledge

On September 2, Modi also inaugurated the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Japan Technology and Culture Academy, which aims to enhance technology, cultural knowledge and understanding between Indian and Japanese IT professionals.

The first batch of 48 TCS Japan trainees will undergo training in India for 6-8 weeks at various TCS locations. Apart from increasing their exposure to new technologies, the TCS Japan graduate trainees will learn about quality and other processes as well as business skills.

After the meeting, Modi literally drummed up support for India as an investment destination, as he joined the ceremonial Japanese drummers. A visibly pleased Modi beat the drums, along with a ceremonial drummer, in a symbolic “jugalbandi” between Asia’s second and third largest economies.

Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the formation of India–Japan Investment Promotion Partnership on September 1, which would enable doubling Japanese investment into India in the next five years.

Japan also pledged around 3.5 trillion yen ($33 billion) of public & private investments, including Overseas Development Assistance, to India.

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