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Japanese investors are looking at the food processing, services and logistics sectors for committing funds in Kerala.
Mr Shinya Fuji, Director-General, Jetro (Japan External Trade Organisation), and Mr Masanori Nakano, Consul-General in Chennai, conveyed this to newspersons here.
Automotive components and supply chain management are two other major sectors which are of interest, Mr Nakano said.
EXPORT BASE
India is already a major export base for Japanese manufacturers. This status is sought to be further consolidated, going forward.
In this connection, Kerala proposes to pitch its position as a prospective investment base for specified Japanese investments.
Mr T. Balakrishnan, Managing Director, Inkel Ltd, a government arm for channelising private capital into infrastructure, disclosed this to newspersons.
Mr Balakrishnan is also Chairman and Managing Director of Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation, which is setting up the country’s first high speed rail corridor.
This gigantic project has already seen some Japanese connection with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) being the main lender.
“Expected to cost Rs 1.5-lakh crore, this is a very large project by any standard, be at the state or central level,” Mr Balakrishnan said.
LENDING AGENCY
“In fact, we are now of the view if we would need to engage more than one lender or it would need to be a combination of tappable sources of funds,” he added.
“Jica, the state and central governments, external commercial borrowings, subordinated debt, suppliers/manufacturers’ credit…all these options are being explored.”
The project has perforce to go several stages for final clearance. Giving an update, he said the request to Jica has to go from Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi.
“A detailed project report is ready, and we have formed a special purpose vehicle for the project,” he added.
Interestingly, this also throws up the possibility of involving some Japanese investments in advance components required for the high-speed trains.
BULLET TRAINS
The Japanese are past masters in this area of business, with a successful shinkansen (bullet train) network under operation.
According to Mr Fuji and Mr Nakano, India serves as a prospective base and export hub to manufacture some of the components.
Mr Balakrishnan said Kerala could try to set up some facility to manufacture some advanced components, if not the shinkasens themselves.
The state proposes to take this up during the Emerging Kerala investment summit, where Japanese would be represented in large numbers.
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