Wednesday, December 18, 2013: Marking a new beginning to the relationship between Indian and Japan, in the electronics sector, the first Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting was convened between India and Japan on Nov. 13, 2013 at New Delhi. The meeting was co-Chaired by Dr. Ajay Kumar, JS, DeitY from Indian side and Mr. Kensuke Tomita, DDG, METI from the Japanese side. Three different sessions, industry to industry, government to industry and government to government were conducted during the JWG to sort-out various hindrances and decide on future road-map for the benefit of electronics manufacturing industry.
Unique to the JWG is the Industry to Industry session, without Government presence, wherein the leading industry organizations and companies participated and attempted to identify issues and areas of cooperation in promoting greater cooperation and collaboration between the two sides. The Industry to industry dialogue was led by India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) from the Indian side and by JEITA from the Japanese side.
DeitY presented the National Policy on Electronics and subsequent decision taken by DeitY as an outcome of the high level visit led by Hon’ble MCIT to Japan in the month of February 2013 like creation of Japan Help Desk, formation of JWG and other details. Shri Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary (IT, BT and S&T) Karnataka, Shri Hari Ranjan Rao, Secretary (IT) Madhya Pradesh, Shri Anoop Singh, Special Secretary, Andhra Pradesh, Shri Prabhjeet Singh, Sr. Manager (DIT) Punjab represented their States’ initiatives to promote electronics investment in their respective states. Mr. Yoshiiku Miyata, Senior Managing Director, M/s Panasonic Corporation, Mr. Masaya Watanabe, VP of Hitachi, Industrial park developers Shri Arun Bhagat, M/s GMR and Shri Ramesh S, M/s Sri City were among those who made presentations about their plans in the electronics sector in India.
Indian side presented three areas for greater cooperation and collaboration (i) Promotion of NPE in Japan, (ii) Human Resource Development in the area of electronics and (iii) Japan-Electronics Industrial Township in India. Japanese side brought out some of the difficulties of doing business in India. The Indian side assured to provide necessary support to Japanese companies planning investment in the area of electronics. The next JWG is expected to take place first half of 2014 in Japan and is expected to take the dialogue further and concretize plans for action. Companies and industry associations interested in collaborating with Japanese electronics companies may like to contact Shri PVG Menon, President, IESA (pvg@isaonline.org) or Shri Rajiv Jain, VP-Govt. Affairs, IESA (rajiv@isaonline.org)
