Japan requests India for "cooperation for resumption of activities of Japanese companies"

Japan is among the first few countries which has reached out to India for resuming economic activities at soon as possible. The Foreign Minister of Japan, Motegi Toshimitsu in a 30-minute long phone conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on May 7, he has asked India for "cooperation for resumption of activities of Japanese companies in India." It is due to the 45 day lockdown to curb COVID-19 pandemic and it will continue for 10 more days.    

If sources are to be believed, India responded to the request and assured that the issues will be addressed. "We understand there have been some disruptions. We are working with the companies to address their concerns. As we go into post-lockdown gradually, depending on the Covid-19 situation, solutions to their issues will be found."

There are almost 1,500 Japanese companies in India. The total number of registered Japanese companies in India till October, 2018 was 1441. Almost half of these companies are engaged in the manufacturing sector. The year 2017-2018 also saw an almost 5 per cent growth of Japanese companies and businesses in India.

Haryana has the maximum number of Japanese companies in the country followed by states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

After the phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had tweeted to say they 'dwelled on economic recovery challenges including supply chain resilience.'

India is trying to grab the advantage of the negative sentiments prevailing against China since the outbreak of coronavirus as countries because countries like Japan have said that they may pull out their investments from China. Under such circumstances, stepping up measures to ensure smooth resumption of businesses will be important now.