Betting Big On India

India’s sheer scale and geography have for decades attracted countries such as Japan and Korea to boost trade and nurture business relations. China too has plans to follow suit

- Ashish Sinha and Monica Behura

In 2009, Masanori Kondo, then representative for GDN-Japan and Director of the Japan India Association, in an interview with BW Businessworld, had said, “Five years ago, many Japanese companies disapproved of Korean companies in India, who were losing money on their investment but are getting some legal support from the Indian government. We now know that Korean companies did what was needed to be done, and that we are far behind. So, the Japanese are gradually adjusting in India.” And adjust they have. Japanese brands invested $4.7 billion in 2016 in India. And Korean companies, for their part, will invest $2.5 billion-3 billion over next 3-5 years. In fact, between Japan and South Korea, there are 2,400-plus subsidiaries actively registered in India generating over $30 billion in annual revenue from the Indian markets. They are today an essential component in India’s GDP growth, contributing over 10 per cent to the Indian economy.

A bid to join the party are the Chinese brands and companies. China already dominates as India’s trade partner in terms of share of imports and exports over Japan and Korea, and now Chinese brands, particularly in mobile handsets, have begun to give competition to both Japanese and Korean products. Sample this: in 2015, China was the 4th largest export destination at $9.5 billion. The same year, China was the largest import partner country at $61.5 billion. For India though, all these means more choices, more employment and a sustained growth in its manufacturing and export base.

Slowly And Steadily