GREETINGS FROM JCCII PRESIDENT
April 2023
Hello Everyone, I am Takuro HORIKOSHI from Sumitomo Corporation India Pvt. Ltd (“SCIN”) and honored to be appointed as the President of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (“JCCII”) in FY2023. I understand the important responsibility of this role and your kind support is highly appreciated.
I was appointed SCIN’s Chairman & Managing Director just 2 years ago during the second wave of COVID pandemic in India in April 2021. In my first year, the various activities finally resumed and improved the situation from the severe battles against COVID due to enhanced vaccination programs. During my second year, interactions resumed and we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India.
This is my third year and I feel the time has finally come for India to blossom. Although the world is in the midst of increasingly accelerating geopolitical difficulties, I foresee that it is finally beginning to show India’s potential in both politics and economics. The Indian population will overtake that of China by the middle of this year, the India’s GDP growth ratio of last year was 6.7%, which could surpass the GDP of United Kingdom and it is expected to surpass that of Japan in four years. There is no doubt that we realize the growth of this huge country as we see more articles about India in newspapers of Japan. I cannot help but being excited to be and live here in India at this moment and work on business with you.
Regarding the relationship between Japan and India, as you all know, The Prime Minister Modi and the Prime Minister Kishida have both agreed to “work closely” following the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2022, Japan as the G7 Presidency and India as the G20 Presidency. Besides, the Prime Minister Kishida visited India on 20 March 2023 and it is expected further opportunities for mutual interaction in the future including both Prime Ministers. FY 2023 is important year in the area of economic and economic cooperation as we shall foster the target announced in March 2022 to make it forward to come true of JPY 5 trillion in 5 years by public and private investments and loans from Japan to India. I would like to work together with all of you to contribute to the development of India-Japan relations.
As for the activities of JCCII, we have determined five pillars as our activity plan of FY 2023. Achieving the aforementioned investment and loan of JPY 5 trillion and strengthening the approaches to improve business environments, which is also important for the companies that have business in India are the most imperative activity of JCCII. On top of these, we hope we could meet the JCCII members’ expectations as much as possible through the “enrichment of Sanmoku-kai,” “flourish of committees’ meetings and “cultural section meetings,” and “improvement of the newsletters and web pages” and it leads to “expansion of the organization”. In other words, we would like to contribute towards “increase the number of members,” so that the Japanese companies’ mates could inspire for the business and activities together in India. The number of corporate members has barely reached to 500 companies last fiscal year. We would like to achieve to surpass 500 companies as a checkpoint and have a good start of further development to drive to the next stage. We highly appreciate if you could actively participate the activities and please do not hesitate to contact us anytime if there are any requests / opinions for having better JCCII activities. We are always happy to hear from you.
Lastly, I shall play this appointed role passionately along with all members of the JCCII, the Embassy of Japan and other Japanese Government and Japanese Association. It is for the strengthening of mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, for the development of existing Japanese companies in India and those who will come in the future, and for the prosperity and development of India. We sincerely appreciate your continued support.
Takuro HORIKOSHI
President
Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India