Question : Bilateral Talks with Japanese PM

(a) whether the Government has recently held a bilateral talk with the Japanese Prime Minister;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the various trade agreement signed between the two countries;
(c) the terms and conditions of such trade agreements between the two countries;
(d) the steps taken by the Government to attract companies leaving China and Russia in the recent past;
(e) whether the Government has prepared any roadmap for Japanese and Russian companies to establish manufacturing plants in the country under recently constituted India-Japan industrial competitive cooperation;
(f) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
(g) the details of facilities provided by the Government to attract investment from Russian and Japanese companies in the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
(SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)
(a) to (c): Yes, Sir. The Prime Minister of Japan visited India from 19 to 20 March 2022 for the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit. Details of the agreements/MoUs signed during the visit of Japanese PM are enclosed at Annexure-I.

(d) to (g): The Government reviews the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy on an ongoing basis and makes changes from time to time, to ensure that India remains an attractive & investor friendly destination. The intent is to remove policy bottlenecks that may be hindering investment inflows into the country. Changes are made in the policy after having intensive consultations with stakeholders including apex industry chambers, associations, representatives of industries/groups and other organizations. Roadmap under India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership (IJICP) was signed on 19.03.2022 between the Government of India and the Government of Japan to serve as basis for cooperation under the IJICP.

There are ‘Japan Plus’ and ‘Russia Plus’ desks in Invest India (National Investment Facilitation Agency) for providing investment related support to companies from Japan and Russia. Further, to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy, wherein except for a few sectors, most sectors are open for 100% FDI under the automatic route.

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Annexure - 1

List of Agreements/MoUs signed during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister to India on 19 and 20 March, 2022

Sl. No Agreement/MoUs signed
1 Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of Cybersecurity
2 7 JICA Loans for projects in connectivity, water supply and sewerage, horticulture, healthcare, and biodiversity conservation in various States.
a) Dedicated Freight Corridor Project (Phase 2) (III)
b) North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project (NH208 (Khowai - Sabroom)) Phase 6
c) Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Project (Phase 3) (II)
d) Uttarakhand Integrated Horticulture Development Project
e) Strengthening Health Systems and Excellence of Medical Education in Assam
f) Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project Phase –II
g) Chennai Metro (Phase 2) (II)
3 i) Amendment of Article 7 (Exchange of Information) of Implementing Agreement (IA) signed between India and Japan as per Article 13 of India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
ii) Amendment of Annex 2 (Product Specific rules) of CEPA to allow the fish surimi product of India with the non-originating additive to be considered as an originating good of India.
4 Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Decentralized Domestic Wastewater Management
5 India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership Roadmap
6 Memorandum of Cooperation on Sustainable Urban Development

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