Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh has got the hots for cherry blossom country. India’s most populous state wants to exchange its ‘backward’ status for some Japan-style dramatic turnarounds, and who better than the Asian powerhouse to help through the process?
More than 200 Japanese industrialists are coming together at the UP-Japan investment meet now on in the capital this week, with a leg scheduled in UP cities like Lucknow, Agra, Greater Noida and Varanasi as well, before curtains fall next Monday.
On the anvil? A clutch of groundbreaking ceremonies of some UP-Japan collabs, some investment announcements – and a Japanese city under planning, no less.
“The Yogi government aims to convert the business interest of Japanese companies into concrete investments, technology transfer, joint projects and large-scale employment generation,” said a statement released by the state government.
For the chief minister who goes to polls in six months or so, garnering what he calls ‘a vote of confidence’ from Japanese investors will be crucial if he is to generate the hundreds of thousands of jobs his state desperately needs, even as he visualises UP achieving a 1 trillion dollar economy.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw are also expected to attend the proceedings. The Japanese delegation will be led by Kotaro Nagasaki, governor of Yamanashi Prefecture. Along with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Uttar Pradesh, the delegation is expected to opportunities across sectors like manufacturing, clean and green energy, semiconductors, digital infrastructure, skill development and tourism.
Organised by Invest UP, the programme will provide representatives of Japanese companies an opportunity to directly interact with senior officials of the central and state governments, Indian industry and educational institutions.
“The Yogi government is seeking to take Uttar Pradesh's economic partnership with Japan to new heights through this strategic engagement. Along with investment, cutting-edge technology, joint ventures and employment will remain at the centre of this entire initiative. Its objective is to establish Uttar Pradesh as a leading and preferred investment destination for international investors,” said the Invest UP statement.
The giant state’s overture to Japan comes on the heel of the opening of the state’s ambitious Noida International Airport, slated to eventually become the biggest airport in the country once all stages get operational. Along with multi-modal logistics network, a cargo hub and other infra developed around it, the airport in particular and western Uttar Pradesh in general are being positioned to become an economic engine, at once using their proximity to the national capital region as well as all the new projects coming up.
The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) region is being positioned as a major hub of upcoming Japanese collaborations. Big projects like that of Minda as well as Escorts-Kubota are also expected to see their groundbreaking ceremony during the investor summit.
A 500-acre Japanese city is also being planned in YEIDA land. It will be developed as an integrated industrial base for Japanese companies along with their suppliers and ancillary industries. The idea is that through the Japanese City, an entire supply chain could be built up around large sectors. This is expected to promote technology transfer, supply-chain integration and ancillary industries while generating additional employment opportunities.
The UP-Japan Investment Meet will give special priority to sectors linked with the future economy. Under green energy, investment opportunities in renewable energy, clean technology and green hydrogen will be presented to Japanese companies. In the manufacturing and automotive sectors, auto components, electronics and semiconductors will be key focus areas. UP government will also be hoping that the Japs will be keen enough to invest in Global Capability Centers (GCCs) and data centres in the state as well.
India has been the biggest loan benefactor of Japan’s official development assistance projects, especially in public infra facilities like Delhi metro, Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project etc. Japanese companies like Suzuki, Toyota etc have major projects in Indian states like Haryana and Gujarat, with de facto Japanese townships present in Gurugram. UP is, very evidently, taking a leaf out of that playbook.
