
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has urged Japanese firms to double their presence in India by 2030, addressing a roundtable with Keidanren, Japan's top business federation. Goyal highlighted opportunities in manufacturing, semiconductors, clean…
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has urged Japanese firms to double their presence in India by 2030, addressing a roundtable with Keidanren, Japan's top business federation. Goyal highlighted opportunities in manufacturing, semiconductors, clean energy and supply-chain resilience, and noted that India's free trade agreements could let Japanese companies use the country as a tariff-friendly export base. He also met executives from Tokyo Electron, MinebeaMitsumi and others to discuss semiconductor plant investments.

The minister is leading India's largest-ever business delegation to Japan, over 200 representatives, during a four-day visit covering Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The push comes as India and Japan mark 2026 as the 'India-Japan Year of Shared Horizons', commemorating 75 years of diplomatic ties. Goyal also pitched India as a trusted partner where intellectual property is secure, in an apparent reference to concerns about China, and said the government is open to addressing individual company concerns.
Both outlets report Piyush Goyal's pitch to Japanese investors from the same official events, but the Times of India leads with Goyal's sharp China-jibe, framing India as a safe base where entrepreneurs don't 'go missing', and his pitch on FTAs as a tariff gateway. Livemint leads with the doubling-target by 2030 and emphasises the semiconductor and smart-city angles, sticking closer to the ministerial press release. The Times of India's version foregrounds the geopolitical positioning, while Livemint's is a comprehensive sectoral business report. Neither outlet critically examines whether the ease-of-doing-business claims match ground realities for Japanese firms. The Keidanren roundtable's outcome, concrete investment commitments versus general intent, will tell whether the rhetoric converts.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): livemint.com (neutral report), timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.