India invites investment fromJapan in infra, electronics

India has sought investment from Japan in sectors like infrastructure and electronic hardware to enhance trade relations between the countries. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is in Tokyofor India Investment Roundtable meeting, asked the Japanese businessmen to explore business opportunities in India. "Sharma invited leading Japanese companies to invest in Indiaand become partner in the growth story for mutual benefit," CII said in a statement on Friday. The roundtable meeting was organised by the ministry and CII. Sharma said besides infrastructure, electronic hardware is another key area where India and Japan can collaborate. "The demand for electronic hardware in India is increasing rapidly and Japans support in meeting this demand would be important," it said quoting Sharma. The Minister informed the Japanese business community thatIndia has opened up multi-brand retail and civil aviation markets for foreign players and "more reforms in insurance and pension sectors, among others, were in the pipeline". CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said key economic legislations such as Banking Bill and Companies Bill are on the table and that there has been good progress on Goods and Services Tax and Direct Taxes Code to streamline the taxation system in the country. Talleen Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) gave a detailed presentation on the investment opportunities in India. He highlighted the National Manufacturing Policy and opportunities available for Japanese enterprises for investment in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, including SMEs, it added. Speaking on the occasion, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Company Vice Chairman Vikram Kirloskar said that joint ventures in the auto sector could be a role model for Indian and Japanese collaboration. The Roundtable meeting was attended by over 20 CEOs of several Japanese companies including Toshiba, Komatsu, Daiichi Sankyo, Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Airways. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 18.42 billion in 2011-12. Japan has invested a total of USD 14.42 billion in Indiabetween April 2000 and February 2013. Finance Min P Chidambaram has said that India offers unlimited opportunities for investment in infrastructure sector as the country needs more roads, airports and seaports. "What I am telling the investors here and the government here is that there is a huge opportunity in India, especially in infrastructure," Chidambaram said in London. "There is no other country in the world which requires so many thousand kilometres of road, so many airports, so many seaports, so much more capacity of steel, mining, power. So I think the opportunities are unlimited," he said. Referring to rate of price rise, he said, "inflation has come down sharply in the last two months and I think numbers for April is doing better. In fact, we are talking about core inflation having reached a zero level."