Ageing Japan Opens Doors For Skilled Indian Workforce

More than 34.5 per cent of the population in Japan is expected to be 65 years of age or older by 2040.

Tokyo is wooing Indian students and professionals for white-collar jobs. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and now Odisha have emerged as the favourite spots for Japanese companies to sign up engineers. The trend is set to pick up steam in the near future.

“This is happening because you may know Japan is facing a shrinking population. We are lacking any talent in our community due to this, and we would like to invite more Indians to go to Japan and help us in this,” Suzuki Takashi, Chief Director General, Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), told The Secretariat.

Traditionally, the US, Canada, Australia, and other European countries have been the preferred destinations for Indian students.

While the talent hunt is across states, Japanese companies have a special focus on the Northeastern states.

“Interestingly, the Japanese interest in Indian talent is mostly focused on Northeastern India, because we somewhat have a similar culture and maybe even a similar appearance. I think it's easier to get Indian talent from the Northeast to enjoy life in Japan,” Takashi said.

In Odisha, the FujiSoft Group has opened a “centre of excellence” to provide necessary training in areas related to IT and ITeS.

Japan's strategic focus on drawing talent from India would particularly benefit the young population of the country.

Japanese Companies In India 

Meanwhile, Japan is increasing its investments in India. A majority of Japanese companies prefer India to China for investments, even as in the last 10 years, the average investments from Japan into Beijing clocked US$ 4 billion annually, while it was US$ 2 billion for India.

According to a survey conducted in 2024, almost 70 per cent of the Japanese companies operating in India expected to register operating profits — an increase from 62.4 per cent in the 2023 survey. The comparable figure is 58.1 per cent of Japanese companies based in China expecting to clock operating profits in 2024.

The survey also revealed that 80 per cent of the Japanese companies present in India are keen on expanding operations here. “Several new companies are keen on either entering India or expanding the existing businesses here,” Takashi said.

While currently, about 90 per cent of the Japanese companies are present in select cities like Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai, they are now gearing up for expansion in new regions, including Jharkhand, Odisha, and the seven sisters in the Northeast.