Japan delegation met Mr. OPS

A delegation from the Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee led by Mr. Muneo Kurauchi, Chairman met the Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru O. Panneerselvam at the Secretariat in Chennai.

Chief Minister highlighted the strong economic and cultural relations between India and Japan. Today, Japan has emerged as the fourth largest investor in India. Studies done by JBIC and JETRO have ranked India as the second most attractive investment destination for Japanese companies. Tamil Nadu is now emerging as one of the largest recipients of Japanese investment.

Chief Minister drew attention to the Tamil Nadu vision 2023 to transform Tamil Nadu into the most preferred “Global manufacturing Hub”. He indicated that the Government accords the highest priority to foster economic relations with Japan. He noted that the Japan international Cooperation Agency (JICA) supports a number of projects in Tamil Nadu including the Chennai Metro Rail Project. Tamil Nadu and JICA have also the formulated a very innovatively designed Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme (TNIPP). The TNIPP effectively aligns the policy priorities of the State Government, as enunciated in the Vision 2023 Document with theexpectations of investors.

Chief Minister mentioned that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed with the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Government of Hiroshima prefecture. A similar MoU between the Guidance Bureau and Kanagawa Prefecture Government was signed on 13th November, 2014.

To highlight the growth of Japanese business in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister mentioned that in October 2011, Tamil Nadu had 286 Japanese companies doing business. This has gone up steeply to 523 at the end of October, 2013. He estimated that the number of Japanese companies must have now crossed 600 in October, 2014. He mentioned some of the notable Japanese companies doing business in Tamil Nadu included Nissan, Toshiba, Unipress, Mitsubishi and Komatsu. He also highlighted that a few more Japanese companies have decided to make substantial investments in Tamil Nadu and that the State Government will soon sign MoUs with a few of these companies.

 The delegation discussed the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and the Madurai Thoothukudi Industrial Corridor and the manner in which Japan and Japanese companies could take part in the exercise.

Mr. Kurauchi mentioned that the momentum was very favourable for deepening the economic relationship between Japan and Tamil Nadu and to capitalize on this momentum.