Japan urges India to improve business environment in the country

The Beatles did not always see eye to eye. India and Japan may be pitch-perfect diplomatically, but the business relationship between the two seems slightly off-key. The Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi compared the QUAD to The Beatles, at the meeting in Delhi earlier this year, while talking about how banded together the four countries—India, Japan, Australia and the United States—are.

It is clear that the band needs a little more jamming. The Japanese business community “strongly requested” the need for a more stable, transparent, predictable environment in India. This was the “view’’ conveyed by the community to Hayashi on his visit to India.

The Japanese foreign minister was in the national capital for a day visit. He took part in the 15th Japan-India Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. The two leaders also participated in the first face-to-face Japan India Forum held in Delhi on Friday.

This request found itself in the read-out of the overview of the strategic dialogue released by the Japanese foreign ministry. “Minister Hayashi requested cooperation to improve environment and for the establishment of a joint crediting system,’’ the press release read. “It was also strongly requested by the business sector,’’ said Yukiko Okano, deputy press secretary foreign ministry.

This is not the first time that the Japanese business community expressed the need for a more conducive environment. In 2015, ambassador to Japan Takeshi Yagi expressed the challenges faced by the companies. "Japanese companies continue to face series of problems on customs, taxation and infrastructure," he had said while speaking at the CII's International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) 2015. This was during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term. "We strongly hope that the new policies and campaigns and initiatives which have been launched by the new government will be materialised as laws and administrative measures will be materialised on the ground," he had said.

While issues of infrastructure was not raised between Hayashi and Jaishankar this time, “the issues of infrastructure have been raised in the past,’’ Okano said. This is a significant concern as Japan is keen to invest 5 trillion yen in public and private investment and loans over the next five years. This was a goal set by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to India in March.

Japan’s biggest—and most visible—aspect of friendship is the Delhi Metro. On the cards is the ambitious bullet train project, which also seems to have been hit by delays. “We reaffirmed our commitment,’’ said Okano. The project has not “progressed as it was envisaged,’’ she said stopping short of a criticism of the delay.

While the business sector may require some tuning, for the most part, the Indo-Japanese songs are hit. Closer cooperation in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, Japanese investment in the North-East for better connectivity, as well as, deep defence ties. "Allow me to cite minister Jaishankar’s book 'The India Way', in which he describes Japan-India relation as “the most natural strategic equation in Asia. I perfectly share his view, and we believe that close coordination with India is key to bringing peace and stability to the Indo-Pacific at large. In that vein, Japan intends to drive forward our cooperation in all areas to expand our 'Special Strategic and Global Partnership' with India,'' said Hayashi at the India Japan Forum.