Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today provoked Japan to invest more in India and participate in its growth story. Today, Japan lags behind China considerably in terms of its bilateral trade with India. Korean companies such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG too have overtaken iconic Japanese brands to get a higher mind-share among the Indian masses in the value for money segment.

Addressing a business luncheon hosted by Nippon Keidanren, Japan’s most influential industry chamber, Singh pointed out that the increase in India’s bilateral trade with China in the past one year alone is more than the whole of India’s total trade with Japan. “Korean products dominate our white goods sector and have high brand recognition in India,” he said.

The total trade between India and China has jumped from just $4.8 billion in 2002-03 to $25 billion in 2006-07. It increased $12.7 billion or more than 50 per cent to touch 37.8 billion in 2007-08. In fact, China has already displaced the US as India’s number one trading partner and the government expects bilateral trade to top $50 billion in the current financial year.

Compare this with India’s trade with Japan that stood at a meager $10 billion in 2006-07. Even by 2010, the two countries hope to just about double the size of bilateral trade to $20 billion. The tepid response by Japanese private sector to investments in and trade with India is attributed to the procedural bottlenecks that plague the domestic business climate.

“...new investors often worry about the difficulties that they may face in a new environment. A vibrant democracy often presents new challenges. I urge you to have faith in our system and our resolve. We are committed to creating a congenial climate for private initiative, risk-taking and enterprise,” Singh said.

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