BENGALURU: The fourth India-Japan Business Summit 2026 was organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), in association with Tokushima Prefecture, on Monday. Consul General of Japan in Bengaluru Hiroshi Nawata highlighted Karnataka’s young workforce as a valuable asset for Japanese companies.
At the summit, it was announced that a startup portal, jointly hosted by BCIC and the Organisation for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan (SMRJ), aims to connect more than 1,000 Indian MSMEs, including those from Karnataka, with Japanese companies and investors.
“Karnataka is home to more than 200 Japanese companies and over 500 Japanese establishments, reflecting the depth of the economic relationship between the two sides. Japan needs a young workforce in the technology sector,” Nawata said.
Principal Secretary of the Commerce and Industries Department Dr S Selvakumar said the state accounts for 40% of India’s electronic design activity, 65% of aerospace and defence manufacturing, 40% of software exports and 52% of machine-tool manufacturing. He invited Japanese companies to bring their technology and investments to the state.
BCIC president K Ravi said the chamber had signed MoUs with Garden City College, Jain College and HKBK College to provide Japanese-language training to students, improving their employment prospects in Japan and Japanese companies in India.
The third BCIC-SMRJ business meeting is scheduled to be held in Tokyo from November 25 to 27, with 37 Indian and 141 Japanese companies expected to participate.