India's ambassador to Japan expressed hope Wednesday for an increase in Japanese investments in infrastructure in India as the country seeks to counter an electricity shortage.
Referring to India's five-year plan to invest $1 trillion into infrastructure development through March 2017, Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa told reporters in Tokyo, "We are trying to encourage Japanese investment" in the field of electricity infrastructure.
She also said Japanese direct investment in India has remained relatively small and there is still great room for growth.
India saw power outages in much of the country earlier this year while electricity demand continues to grow there.
Large Japanese manufacturers such as Suzuki Motor Corp. have already entered the Indian market, while small and midsize businesses are falling behind in entering due in part to infrastructure problems.
The number of Japanese firms operating in India stood at 926 as of Oct. 1, up from 812 the previous year.