Chennai, February 28, 2013: The government of Tamil Nadu along with the CII, ACMA and Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) organised a seminar yesterday in Chennai in a bid to woo Japanese automotive companies to invest in the state. Fifty-five delegates representing 46 companies from across Japan formed the contingent that participated in the seminar titled ‘Tamil Nadu – A potential investment location for automotive related industry’. The event was preceded by the delegation’s visit to Renault-Nissan Alliance Pvt Ltd’s manufacturing facility in Oragadam, Chennai on February 25.
Soichi Yoshimura, executive vice-president, JETRO, said that the objective of the mission is “To promote network building between existing Japanese companies and interested parties regarding the investment environment in Tamil Nadu.” L Ganesh, past chairman, CII Southern Region and chairman, Rane Group, said that Japan has always been an integral part of India’s ‘Look East’ policy. “Tamil Nadu has 340 Japanese companies, the maximum of any state in India. Sixty percent of the FDI that comes from Japan into Tamil Nadu is for the automobile sector,” Ganesh added.
Representing the Japanese government, Masashi Iwanaga, director, Financial Cooperation Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, said, “The third round of talks between the Japanese government and Tamil Nadu state government will take place on Wednesday.” On behalf of JETRO, Shinya Fujii, director general, JETRO Chennai, said that in a recent survey conducted by his office, 83 percent of Japanese companies in India said that they have plans to expand their operations here.
The task of wooing potential investors on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government was shouldered by M Velmurugan, IES, executive vice-chairman, Guidance Bureau, Pooja Kulkarni, IAS, joint secretary, Industries Department and Joseph Ravi, additional director, Directorate of Industries & Commerce. To facilitate interactions with the Japanese companies, JETRO’s representatives included Fujii, Yoshimura and Hajime Sato, director, Overseas Investment Division, JETRO.
While the Japanese delegation mainly consisted of small and medium-sized enterprises, there were several large-scale companies whose activities included general trading, banking, manufacture of plastic components, catalytic converters for cars and two-wheelers and aluminium die casting.
KARTHIK H