Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday urged Japanese companies to move beyond assembly and build complete manufacturing value chains in India, saying the country’s large domestic market and expanding access to global markets offered an opportunity to make India a base for exports.Speaking at an investors and business roadshow in Osaka, Goyal said India was increasingly moving towards manufacturing parts, components, chemicals and other inputs locally instead of remaining focused on assembling finished products.“We are no more a nation of assembly. We are moving into the entire ecosystem of manufacturing, parts, components, chemicals, gases, indigenising entire manufacturing processes,” Goyal said.He said around 1,500 Japanese companies were already present in India and were increasingly recognising the benefits of localisation and operating their manufacturing chains in the country.“Many companies from the Kansai region, which operate in India, and overall, we have about 1,500 companies which are today present in India from Japan. They are all increasingly recognising the value of localisation, the value of having their entire manufacturing chain operating in India,” he said.Goyal said India’s large domestic market, combined with opportunities to export to global markets, could help Japanese companies achieve greater economies of scale. He urged businesses from the Kansai region to look at India not only to serve domestic demand but also as a manufacturing base for international markets.“Work with India not only to capture the large demand of 1.45 billion Indians but also to make India your base to serve global demand for high-quality goods and services that Japan is recognised and respected for,” he said.He highlighted India’s infrastructure expansion as another factor supporting manufacturing, saying the country had been spending nearly $130 billion annually on infrastructure over the past three years and planned to continue doing so.Goyal also said India now had preferential access to goods and services across economies representing more than $70 trillion of global GDP, with another $10-15 trillion expected to be added through ongoing trade negotiations.In the question-and-answer session, he identified specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and shipbuilding among areas where India and Japan could build stronger manufacturing partnerships.“We’ll add another $10 to $15 trillion of GDP through the discussions and negotiations that are going on. So India will be a part of global supply chains with seamless flow of goods and services,” Goyal said.The Minister’s remarks come as India seeks to deepen its economic engagement with Japanese businesses, with the focus increasingly extending from investment into local manufacturing, supply-chain integration and exports. On the trade front, India-Japan bilateral trade stood at $27.47 billion in FY 2025-26, with exports from Japan to India at $21.43 billion and India’s exports to Japan at $6.04 billion. Industry bodies and government officials have targeted taking bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.Published on August 27, 2026