Indo-Japan partnership in manufacturing can be best in the world: Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava

New Delhi: With Maruti Suzuki proving to be a successful Indo-Japan collaboration, company Chairman RC Bhargava feels if the two countries work with full partnership and trust in the manufacturing sector, they would be the best in the world.

Also, the growing partnership between India and Japan is going to be a huge positive factor for the growth of Indian manufacturing, he told PTI in an interview.

"I believe that India Japan partnership, which we have seen in Maruti Suzuki and some other areas, is becoming stronger, and more and more Japanese companies are getting interested in investing in India, partnering with Indian companies," Bhargava said.

He cited the example of Escorts Kubota, where the latter has become a promoter in the Indian farm equipment and construction equipment maker, and said, "I think this kind of partnerships between India and Japan is going to be a huge positive factor for the growth of Indian manufacturing." Bhargava noted that a lot can be learnt from the Japanese partners about their skills, best practices and management systems.

On the other hand, he said, the global situation is changing in a direction which favours India, aided by the various reforms measures taken by the government.

"When the world sees that India is also changing and the factors which prevented us from being competitive in manufacturing, are changing and people are looking at it, I think they will also see that India probably now will be the most competitive manufacturing destination in the world, or at least we can do a lot in large operations," he said.

He further said, "Some small countries may be very good, but then they don't have the manpower which we have." So, if the two countries deepen their ties, he said, "I think this combination is unbeatable in the world. I don't think that if India and Japan work together with full partnership and trust, anybody in the world including China can do better than us." Maruti Suzuki is the leading carmaker in the country with a market share of more than 43 per cent in the passenger vehicle segment.

The auto major had achieved its highest-ever annual sales of 17,29,826 units in 2018-19, cornering a market share of 51.21 per cent. It, however, declined to 43.38 per cent at 13,31,558 units in 2021-22.

In FY22, the company reported a total consolidated revenue from operations at Rs 88,330 crore.

Its parent Suzuki Group has so far invested Rs 65,000 crore in India.