Japan to Hire 200,000 Indian IT Professionals

Japan will be hiring 200,000 information technology (IT) professionals from India to support its rapidly expanding IT infrastructure, Shigeki Maeda, executive vice president at Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), a government body, said on March 8, according to the Economic Times.

The IT professionals will be given green cards so that they can settle down in Japan. The country has been reticent about opening up its shores to immigrants until now, but with an ageing population and low birth rate it was said to be only a matter of time till it opened its doors to people of other nationalities.

“Currently there are around 920,000 IT professionals in the country and there is an immediate demand for more than 200,000 IT professionals from India which is likely to further swell to 800,000 professionals by 2030,” Maeda said in his keynote address at the India-Japan Business Partnership Seminar, which was jointly organized by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Jetro.

Many Japanese companies feel that there are limitations to conventional “in-house innovation” and hence India is the ideal partner while moving towards “most-advanced IT Technology Capabilities,” he said.

“India can bridge that gap. If a company in Japan has an immediate demand for say 5,000 engineers, only India can come to their aid. All sectors are facing the crunch as they are interlinked and connected… whether it is healthcare, agriculture, research and development or services or finance,” Maeda added.

The Japanese government will give green cards to highly-skilled professionals that would let them get permanent resident status in as little as one year. This will be first of its kind in the world since it will be the fastest grant of residence.

India and Japan’s ties have become closer with enhancement in security, maritime and trade relations. India and Japan are part of a Quadrilateral agreement, including Australia and the United States, regarding security. Japan and India also plan to create 11 economic zones in India. Some of the places identified for the industrial townships are Tumkur (Karnataka), Ghilot (Rajasthan), Mandal (Gujarat), Supa (Maharashtra), Ponneri (Tamil Nadu), Neemrana (Rajasthan), Jhajjar (Haryana), and Integrated Industrial Township in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh/NCR).

Japan has also relaxed visa rules for Indian travelers with effect from Jan. 1, 2018. Currently, Indians don’t need to submit their employment certificate and letters of explanation for multiple-entry visas.

Currently, there are 1,369 Japanese companies in India while only 71 Indian companies operate in Japan. In 2016, only 266 Indian highly skilled foreign professionals were working there, the Hindu reported. However, with curbs on the H-1B visa in the United States more professionals are expected to vie for jobs in other countries.