Since 1981, when the Suzuki Motor Corporation set up a factory in India to manufacture the “Maruti” car, the Japanese company has been a byword for bilateral ties, Kenichi Ayukawa, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Marketing Officer, who headed Maruti Suzuki operations in India from 2013 to 2022, says.
Suzuki was among the first to bring Japanese engineers to India to streamline processes and train Indian workers to build the car. With both Delhi and Tokyo seeking solutions to Japan’s ageing population and India’s burgeoning youth population, the company is now reversing that trend.
“Suzuki is now trying to invite a lot of Indians to Japan, training them and helping them develop technology in Japan,” Mr. Ayukawa said, accompanied by Indian scholar and Suzuki executive Chandrali Sarkar. Ms. Sarkar first came to Japan to study at Keio University and has worked on India operations at Suzuki’s Hamamatsu headquarters, about 250 km from Tokyo, since 2022. She noted that while some hesitation among Indians stems from limited Japanese language skills, the broader challenge is unfamiliarity with Japan.
“Japan should know more about India and vice versa. Especially the next generation needs to connect, and we need more Indian students, engineers, professionals to come to Japan,” said Kenji Hiramatsu, Chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at The Japan Research Institute (JRI), and Japan’s ambassador to India from 2015 to 2019. “It is important that we change the mindset of Indian youth that Japan is a special partner for India,” he added, noting that the current number of Indians studying in Japan is far below its potential.
