The Hindu Business Line : Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor: India, Japan sign MoU

New Partnership: (From left) Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons Ltd; Mr Akira Amari, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan; and Mr Jamshyd N. Godrej, past President, CII, & Chairman & Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd; at a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. –

Our Bureau

Mumbai, July 3

India and Japan signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of the proposed $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

Mr Ajay Dua, Secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Mr Yasuo Hayashi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Japan External Trade Organisation, were signatories to the agreement signed in the presence of Mr Akira Amari, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The 1,483-km corridor that will stretch from Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai to Dadri and Tughlakabad in the National Capital Region of Delhi, will spread over Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and will be linked to the Golden Quadrilateral.

Funds for project

Seventy five per cent of the project is to be funded by Public-Private-Partnership. The balance will be raised through budgetary resources or by taking loans from the Government of Japan and other agencies.

“India is to become a platform for production and development and be a gateway for trade with Europe, West Asia and Africa,” said Mr Amari. “For industry, time means cost,” he said, stressing the need for States to cooperate with each other to improve infrastructure and make India a one-stop shop for licensing and other services.

Mr Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation, who is leading the delegation, also spoke of the need for coordination among the States for the successful completion of the project.

Tax regime

Mr Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman of the Board, Tokyo Stock Exchange, said that introduction of the Japanese Depository Receipt listing system will take effect from Autumn 2007. He invited Indian companies to invest in the TSE.

Responding to concerns over a complex tax regime in India, former CII chairman, Mr Jamshyd N. Godrej, said that it had become simpler than it used to be and efforts were on to have a uniform goods and services tax by 2011.

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