After IT, Japan sees major biotech potential in India

Kavitha Alexis

Bangalore, Nov 4: Japan seems to be bowled over by the developments in the biotech sector in India. So much so that Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has translated the biotechnology policies of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh into Japanese to enable entrepreneurs in the land of the rising sun to get a first hand knowledge of the business environment in India.

Speaking with The Financial Express, Japan External trade Organisation (JETRO) director general Hidehiro Ishiura said,‘‘Global companies with serious interest on biotechnology and bioinformatics would find India an attractive destination.’’

However, Mr Ishiura said corporates in Japan still remained hesitant about investing in India due to issues related to intellectual property rights (IPR).

Japanese companies were keen to invest in the biotechnology and pharma segments once the IPR issues were cleared and India could expect more investment and collaborations with Japanese biotech companies, Mr Ishiura added.

Presently, there are collaborations between Indian and Japanese companies in the chemical ingredient segment of the pharmaceuticals industry. In biotech, Bangalore-based Biocon has business ties with Japanese companies, Mr Ishuira said. More investments in the sector would be benefit both countries, he added.

On IT software and hardware, Mr Ishiura said India was a much sought outsourcing base for Japan in terms of software and other knowledge-based skills.

But in the hardware sector India was not on the radar screen of Japanese companies, he added. In hardware Japan had chosen to partner with countries like China and US rather than India, he said. Cost-competitiveness was the major hurdle to investments in the hardware sector, he added. High cost of labour, lack of infrastucture and multiplicty of taxes contrbuted to high manufacturing cost, Mr Ishiura said.

On Japan’s IT scenario, Mr Ishiura said despite the economic slowdown and recession in Japan, its IT sector was growing.
The IT services sector had registered a 10 per cent growth last year and Japan was expecting growth of more than 10 per cent this year too.