Japanese expats in Indian auto hub find taste of home in hotels

In India’s Gujarat, eating meat or seafood is frowned upon, but in the state’s dusty industrial town of Vithalapur, hotels with names like Osaka Palace are churning out ramen and tempura — all to please the Japanese auto engineers and managers who now stay in them.

- 

Highway hotels in Vithalapur, Gujarat, are thriving, home to Japanese staff in India on long contracts. They offer familiar favourites in a state where eating meat or seafood is frowned upon.

(PHOTO: REUTERS)

The transformation of Vithalapur’s farmlands, which lie 75km east of the state capital of Gandhinagar, owes much to increased foreign investment in Indian manufacturing - one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key policy planks.

Honda’s motorcycle unit first started production in Vithalapur nearly a decade ago, while Suzuki has an eight-year-old plant that started rolling out its first electric cars in August.

A bevy of auto-related suppliers and other industrial Japanese companies have also set up shop.