Japan is exploring opportunities to cooperate with Kerala in IT and tourism sectors, according to Takeshi Yagi, Japanese Ambassador to India.
The tourism and IT are the engines of growth of Kerala’s economy and several Japanese companies are looking to expand their operations in South India, considering the presence of more Japanese citizens working in the region compared to rest of the country, he said.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy and Trade and Industry (METI) and the Japan Tourism and Indian Ministry of Communication and IT had already started joint working group on IT and electronics last year, he said.
Yagi was here to inaugurate the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce Kerala (Injack), a new, not-for-profit organisation to connect SMEs in Kerala with Japan.
He expressed the hope that the new organisation would go a long way in changing Kerala’s SME landscape. The organisation would groom SMEs in the State cutting across all sectors including manufacturing and services such as IT and tourism.
The organisation would soon work out the fine-print of the nature of the collaboration between the SME’s from the State and Japanese organisations. The organisation will have both corporate and individuals as members.
He said that the number of Japanese companies in India had touch 1,072 in 2013. Though there are 15 Japanese companies operating in Kerala, the number of branches set up by Japanese companies had almost doubled from 53 to 105 in the past one year.
T. Balakrishnan, President of the Chamber said that the organisation would act as a catalyst for strengthening trade relations, promote bi-lateral trade, facilitate investment and technology transfer, joint ventures, business collaborations and strategic tie-ups.
Injack will focus on strengthening opportunities for businesses in Kerala to form strategic partnerships and joint ventures with business entities in Japan.