New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised speedy clearances for Japanese investments, ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar today said India can get billions of dollars of fresh investments from Japan.
Kochhar, who is part of a high-level business delegation that has come here for Modi's first official visit as Prime Minister, said that ICICI Bank will play a major role in arranging funds for Japanese investments into India.
The areas that can attract such investments include railways, smart city projects, biotechnology, clean energy, electronics and the overall infrastructure space, Kochhar told PTI in an interview here.
"There is a huge potential to increase the fund flows from Japan and the investments can get a major fillip in the wake of Prime Minister's promise to improve ease of doing business and fast-track the clearances," said Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank.
Asked about the estimated size of fresh investments that can come from Japan into India, Kochhar said: "The figure can be huge and it would definitely be in billions of dollars.
"Japan is currently third largest FDI source for India and still its total FDI into India is only 1.7 per cent of their overall foreign direct investments. Even if this figure goes to 5 per cent, the total investments into India would easily become USD 5 billion."
She added: "Besides, we are getting only a small percentage of the total assets under management of funds available with Japanese financial institutions. There is huge scope for fresh investments in infrastructure space. The size of investments can be really huge."
When asked what role ICICI can play, she said: "We can play a very significant role in funding lots of Japanese investments that would come to India. We are working with Japanese Bank of International Cooperation in areas including export credit guarantees.
"All India needs to do is focus on making its business environment more friendly. There is a very big opportunity for expanding Indo-Japan economic relations. They (Japanese investors) are looking for clarity in policy regime and improvement in ease of doing business."
She added: "Prime Minister has promised to do the needful. He gave an inspiring speech before Japanese and Indian businessmen and said that he has dealt with Japanese investors in a big way during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat. He said that the kind of environment Japanese investors were provided in Gujarat, the same would be replicated at the national level now," Kochhar said.
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