India has signed up a 3.2 lakh crore partnership deal with Japan on 19th March 2022, following Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida’s meeting with Indian PM, Narendra Modi. Previously, India and Japan had signed a deal for the prestigious bullet train project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, which has not got far beyond papers in recent years.
This time, though the bullet train project was highlighted as “One Team, One Project”, the main aim was on renewable and clean energy. The greatest development was in the automobile sector, which contributes to most of India’s pollution in big cities. India and Japan have agreed to collaborate in production of electric vehicles, battery storages and green hydrogen as an alternative energy source. This comes at a time after the Indian Government has announced its intention to switch over to a complete electric vehicles fleet after 2025.
Referring to bilateral trade ties, he said Japan has an investment target of five trillion yen (Rs 3.2 trillion) in India over the next five years. Japan also announced a sustainable development initiative for the Northeastern region. Loans worth Rs 20, 400 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were also agreed upon for cooperation in infrastructure, connectivity, biodiversity and healthcare.
Japan’s co-operation with India has only increased over the years. At a time when India is desperately looking for alternatives to oil and coal, investments in renewable and clear energy sectors come as a boon. In the solar power sector, when India imports more than 90% of solar panels and more than half of energy storage facilities, co-operation is needed with the developed countries to sustain production in India. Japan is now on the driving seat of economic and technological boom among major powers in the world. Hence, India co-operation with Japan in various advanced technological and economic fields will boost India’s growth as a world power in the coming years.
Read more about India-Japan’s economic summit here – https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/a-yen-for-india-to-take-bilateral-relations-forward-japan-and-india-must-exploit-complementarities/2467164/
Written by – Himadri Paul