FICCI President says widening trade deficit with Japan a concern for exporters

Industry chamber FICCI President Anant Goenka on Tuesday said Indiarsquos widening trade deficit with Japan is a matter of concern for domestic exporters and pushed for greater recognition of Indian certifications in Tokyo to improve market access according to news agency PTIGoenka the Vice Chairman of the RPG Group pointed out that Indias trade with Japan has been skewed and Indian companies continue to face challenges in accessing the Japanese marketThat trade deficit has been an area of concern I think our trade deficit has widened during this period and it has been raised by the minister Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal as well over the course of various conversations that while trade has grown it has primarily grown one way So how do we access Japanese markets How do we make products and therefore quality for example is something where the exacting standards of Japanese even Indian manufacturing has to scale uprdquo he saidWe are doing some amount But I think more can be done on that front The other is I think some amount of cultural opening as well there is a fair amount of bias of buying products within Japan of Japanese companies So that is something where it may just take time to solve in my view he addedThe trade between India and Japan grew 918 per cent to USD 2747 billion exports of USD 603 billion and imports of USD 2143 billion in 202526 from USD 2516 billion in 202425However the trade deficit between India and Japan increased to USD 154 billion in the last fiscal year from USD 1266 billion in 202425 It was USD 1253 billion in 202324 and USD 11 billion in 202223 as per PTIStrict compliance norms impacting Indian exportersStringent certification and regulatory requirements are some of the key concerns for Indian exporters particularly for pharmaceutical companies in the Japanese marketGoenka stated that Indian pharmaceutical companies were facing particular difficulties in registering their products in JapanPharma companies cannot even register their products yet in Japan Goenka said describing this as a challenge that needs to be addressedThe industry chamber is seeking for greater recognition of Indian certifications in Japan to improve market access in Japan an issue Goenka said could be resolved even outside a larger review of the IndiaJapan free trade agreementHe further said addressing certification and regulatory barriers would be important for making bilateral trade more balanced and helping Indian companies tap the Japanese marketIndiaJapans scope for collaborationGoenka highlighted that India and Japan have significant scope for collaboration in areas such as hightech manufacturing artificial intelligence data centres shipbuilding critical minerals steel and semiconductorsThe other opportunity we looked at was IndiaJapan for Africa So between the two of us there are different capabilities that we have We have had long relationships with Africa a lot of Indians present thereJapan also has its own RampD strengths So how can we jointly work towards investing more in Africa selling more to Africa working towards that space he saidHe added that critical minerals are key areas where the two countries can collaborate in AfricaWith inputs from PTI