The University of Tokyo opened an office in the high-tech Indian city of Bangalore on Monday to recruit local students.
While about 1,000 Chinese and about 600 South Korean students were studying at the university as of May last year, there were only 35 Indians.
The University of Tokyo is the first state-run university to set up a student recruiting office in India. Private Ritsumeikan University has already set up a recruiting office in New Delhi.
Ritsumeikan's foreign student population is devoid of Indians and dominated by Chinese and South Koreans, according to its website. Indians account for fewer than 600 of the 140,000 foreign students enrolled at Japanese universities.