Japan not tapped by Indian IT, despite opportunities
Prominent Indian information technology (IT) firms have long been anticipating Japan’s recent move in acknowledging the need to welcome Indian professionals.
Following their hunch, software and automobile giants have been crowding business platforms forums in the land of the rising sun for years. With a rapidly ageing economy, a falling birth rate and an unemployment rate of about 2.8 per cent, Japan is in need of professionals across quarters.
The Shinzo Abe government had formally recognised this almost a decade ago, bringing the current population of foreign workers in the country to a little less than 13 million. Despite these efforts, cultural and language barriers have resulted in less than 6,000 visas generated for highly skilled professionals since 2015.
By 2030, Japan will need almost 6,00,000 IT professionals. On the sidelines of an event in India last week, Shigeki Maeda, executive vice-president (VP) of Japan External Trade Organisation, a government-backed agency that promotes global trade relations, had said there was an immediate need for 200,000 IT professionals. “This is being necessitated due to the advent of rapid technological innovations in the country's societal needs. Japan wants to fill this yawning gap and is looking towards India’s assistance in the IT space. Many Japanese companies feel the limitations of conventional “in-house innovation” and hence are moving towards “most-advanced IT Capabilities, for which India is the ideal partner to look out for,” he had said.
So, what has prevented the country from attracting talent effectively? “The Japanese economy was built on manufacturing excellence. With the advent of smart machines, they need a lot of people skilled in software technology. This is where India steps in. Top Japanese technology giants such as NTT, Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC will be front runners in hiring talent,” said Pareekh Jain, senior VP of HfS Research India.
Indian IT companies that already have a presence in the country will be spending more resources to scale up operations — Japan is the third largest software market globally.