Japan begins to eye India's talent pool

Japan hopes to tap into India's talent pool for its economy. The world's second biggest economy is on a manpower hunt for fuelling its economy and is eyeing countries like India for pulling skilled manpower.

Yasukuni Enoki, Japanese ambassador to India, told reporters on his visit to Ahmedabad that his country looks towards to a free movement of professionals from India to Japan.

He emphasised the freedom of skilled manpower to move from India to Japan aiding the growth of the Japanese economy.

On the number of Indian professionals' in Japan, he said, "There are 16,000 Indians working in Japan at present but with co-operation between the two the number is bound to increase in future."

He added: "I won't be surprised, if Japan will be flooded with IT professionals or nurses and other professionals from India." He also pointed towards India's edge in IT professionals.

Enoki emphasised the changing perspective of its nation towards India. "We look India as a major power in Asia and we want to strengthen (deepen) our strategic partnership with India," Enoki added.

According to him, India is one of the three major powers of Asia. "Japan, India and China are the major powers of Asia," he said.

"In fact Japan prefers India over China and S Korea to make it Japan's 'special economic partner'. Indian prime minister will visit Japan sometime next month and we are hopeful that negotiations will be fruitful." he added.

"Even though Japan's GDP is much more than India's we are sure that in the coming years India's GDP will exceed Japan's," adds Enoki.

Foreseeing India as a major power, he admitted that without India's participation Japan cannot contribute to Asia's development and in particular to the development of ASEAN countries.

Indicating its strong desire to play a major role in ASEAN region, Enoki emphasised that Japan and India can play a significant role in the development of ASEAN countries. "Together we can exert a great impact on the East Asian countries and that will lead towards further integration," said Enoki.

Referring to India's desire to be a superpower, he said that India needs to improve its manufacturing industry. Criticising India's weak manufacturing sector, he said, "Sorry for my frankness, but I must say that Indian manufacturing Industry is not developed."

He further said, "No country can emerge as superpower without development of manufacturing industry." He offered his country's support for strengthening India' manufacturing industry that will create mutual benefits. "Its time for a comprehensive special economic partnership between the two countries," adds Enoki.

Enoki said that there is a presence of European and US companies in Gujarat, but not many Japanese companies are here.

"There are around 350 Japanese companies in India. They are based in Greater Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengalore. However, not many of them are willing to come to Gujarat. I don't know why but that is the fact."

He said that the vast coastline of Gujarat and ports can really attract more Japanese companies as more and more Japanese companies are making India their Export base.

"Gujarat can become a major export base for Japanese automobile companies. More advanced port facilities in Gujarat can be a real advantage to these companies and the state.

Enoki also stressed the need to further strengthen tourism ties between India and Japan. "Almost 17 million Japanese travel abroad every year as tourists and of them only one lakh come to India. Around 50,000 Indians travel to Japan every year. We are focussing on doubling this number in the next four years," he said.

Enoki, stressed on the need for infrastructure development in India.

He said, "India needs to focus on infrastructure as that will provide a strong base for the country's manufacturing industry to grow. Many of the Japanese private companies are showing an interest in developing infrastructure in India."