New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) Japan’s move to open a dedicated office in India to help Japanese firms navigate regulatory hurdles and boost investment signals Tokyo’s long‑term bet on India’s economic and strategic role in the Indo‑Pacific, according to a new report.

The India Narrative report said the office will deepen ties beyond manufacturing, linking Japan’s large corporations with India’s start‑up ecosystem, artificial intelligence sector, critical minerals, and clean‑energy chains.

The proposed centre will act as an information clearinghouse, policy advocate, and coordination platform administered by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It will collect feedback from Japanese companies on issues such as inconsistent state‑level rules, opaque legal processes, and complex tax and approval structures, and then channel these concerns directly to relevant Indian agencies,” the report detailed.

Tokyo’s focus on high‑growth, strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and critical minerals reflects a shift from seeking low‑cost manufacturing to anchoring long‑term technological and supply‑chain partnerships in India.

The report highlighted a renewed Japanese interest in Indian partnership for over a decade, which has not been fully translated into scale.

Japanese companies wanted Indian partnerships to diversify away from China‑centric supply chains, but the number of Japanese firms in India has hovered around a modest figure, with little change in recent years, the report noted.

The stagnation stemmed from transaction costs such as varying state‑wise regulations, unclear implementation of central laws, and administrative bottlenecks that made long‑term fixed‑capital planning difficult.

Japan remaining a key foreign investor in India gives the new office a built-in credibility, the media house said, adding: “Tokyo sees India as indispensable, but only if the policy environment becomes more predictable and less opaque.”

Tokyo framed India as a critical node in its evolving Indo‑Pacific supply‑chain strategy, linking it with semiconductor‑related collaborations and clean‑energy partnerships and the dedicated foreign office signalled India as a high‑potential albeit a “high‑complexity frontier economy.”

–IANS

aar/vd