Japan’s Indian business plans pivot on S.E. Asia
Japan’s Indian business plans pivot on S.E. Asia
In the wake of China’s rise, India is beginning to attract increased attention on account of the enormous size of its market.
Due to India’s distance from Japan and its different business culture, many Japanese companies are hesitant to make inroads in India or have already had their fingers burned. In light of this, some Japanese companies are establishing forward bases in Singapore and Thailand with an eye on leaping from there into the Indian market.
Kikkoman Corp., a soy sauce brewer, established a joint research institute with the National University of Singapore in October. Kikkoman Chief Executive Officer Yuzaburo Mogi said: “We have no business experience in India. We want to weigh up our options in Singapore.”
Kikkoman selected Singapore as a place to establish a research center to study and develop seasoning agents and processed food for the Chinese market, and for Chinese living in Southeast Asia. Consideration of the Indian market also played its part in the decision.
In Singapore, people of Indian descent account for about 8 percent of the population and the Tamil language, spoken in southern India, is one of Singapore’s four official languages. When visitors head to the city-state’s Little India district, where sari-clad women can be seen on the streets and the rich aromas of spices fill the air, it is as if they were in India.
More: yomiuri.co.jp