India`s Singh calls for more business investment from Japan

TOKYO, Oct. 22 Kyodo -
Visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked Japanese
business leaders to boost investment in India, while expressing strong
confidence in his country's economic growth despite the current global
financial crisis.
''We welcome Japanese investment in our efforts to build a new dynamic India,''
Singh said at a welcome luncheon for the premier in Tokyo attended by an array
of major Japanese business figures including Japan Business Federation Chairman
Fujio Mitarai.
''We have begun to attract investment from Japan but it is much less than the
full potential,'' he said.
In an effort to broaden bilateral trade and enhance reciprocal investment,
Singh said India hopes to conclude a comprehensive economic partnership
agreement with Japan at an early date.
''It will provide economies of scale and allow India to serve as a global
manufacturing hub for the Japanese industry,'' he said, adding that the
agreement should also promote more exports of Indian goods and services to
Japan through the removal of tariff barriers.
Singh said India especially wants to boost cooperation in areas of what he
called ''established Japanese competence,'' such as energy-efficient
technologies and the development of new and renewable sources of energy such as
clean coal, solar and nuclear energy.
He said that although India has achieved average annual economic growth of 9
percent over the past four years, it is likely to slow down in the current year
because of the global financial crisis. ''But once normalcy returns, we can,
and we are determined to regain the 9 percent growth trajectory.''
At the two countries' Business Leaders Forum held before the luncheon, Mitarai,
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India's business conglomerate Reliance Industries
Ltd., and other business leaders, agreed to urge their governments to conclude
a free trade agreement soon.
Mitarai and Ambani later submitted an FTA request with other proposals compiled
at the gathering to Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Singh, who met
Wednesday afternoon for their summit.
Even after an FTA comes into force, continuous improvements in India's
investment and business systems will be important for the country to boost its
competitiveness as an investment destination, the business leaders said in a
joint statement.
As for required changes in India, they pointed to the simplification of the tax
and land appropriation systems, as well as the relaxation of foreign direct
investment restrictions for retail trading.
The Business Leaders Forum meeting was the second of its kind following one
held in New Delhi in August 2007. Japan and India agreed in December 2006 to
set up the business forum to consider ways to strengthen business relations
between the two countries.
The latest forum's participants included Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Fujio Cho
and Nomura Holdings Inc. Chairman Junichi Ujiie, as well as Nandan Nilekani,
co-chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd., and Malvinder Singh, chief executive
officer of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.
==Kyodo