'India can be springboard for Japanese businesses'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted India's political and economic stability and planned economic reforms while pitching the country as a destination for Japanese investments to drive growth in areas ranging from manufacturing and technology to green energy and next-gen infrastructure.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Modi, who was addressing the India-Japan Economic Forum in Tokyo alongside his counterpart Shigeru Ishiba, said Japan's excellence and India's scale can create a perfect partnership. Both PMs emphasised the complementarity between India's workforce and Japan's advanced technology.

Economic cooperation has taken centrestage for Modi's twoday visit to Japan against the backdrop of uncertainty and geo-economic churn created by the tariff policies of the Trump administration in the US. Both sides unveiled a slew of measures, including an Economic Security Initiative, to cope with the changing global economic order. "Today, there is political stability in India. There is economic stability. There is transpar ency in policies, there is predictability. Today, India is the fastest growing major economy in the world," Modi said, speaking in Hindi. "India is the springboard for Japanese businesses to the Global South. Together, we will shape the Asian Century for stability, growth and prosperity." Ishiba added, "India-Japan relations are making great strides by leveraging India's growing market in an increasingly uncertain global economy. Building resilient supply chains with reliable partners and ensuring economic security are essential for further economic development." Pointing to planned economic reforms in India, Modi said work is underway to bring new and major changes to the "one nation-one tax" system launched in 2017.