In recent times India has turned a corner and Western pharma firms who once shied away are now flocking to the country to either outsource various business functions or set up infrastructure and take advantage of India's burgeoning, low cost pharmaceutical industry - Japan has indicated it does not want to be left out.
As a reuslt, Ram Vilas Paswan, India's Minister for Steel, Fertilisers and Chemicals, led a six-day delegation tour of Japan last week to "to explore the vast potential and expertise offered by the Japanese pharmaceutical and chemical majors."
While in Japan, Paswan met with leading representatives of the country's pharma industry and visited the premises of Japanese pharma giants Eisai and Mitsbishi Corporation in order to discuss new cooperation agreements between the two countries.
Meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan were also on the agenda and according to Paswan, initial talks were promising.
Eisai Chemicals expressed its intention to set up a new manufacturing unit and R&D facility in India, at either Vishakhapatnam or Indore, Paswan told reporters in Tokyo.
In addition, Paswan said Mitsubishi Chemicals had announced a Rs1665 crore (€285.1m) plan to expand the manufacturing capacity of purified teraphthalic acid (pta) - a petrochemical used in plastic products - from 470,000 tonnes to 1, 270,000 tonnes at its facility in Haldia.