Good News: Japan to Hire Two Lakh IT Engineers from India

Japan is looking to hire human resources from India to fill the manpower gap in its information technology sector caused due to a fall in the country’s working population, according to Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a government agency which promotes trade between Japanese firms and other countries.

The Japanese government is also looking to collaborate with companies specifically from Hyderabad, JETRO members said at a press conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the agency on Wednesday.

“Japan has a shortage (of people) and resources in IT companies and it will be a big help for us. In our country, Hyderabad is not as popular as Bengaluru, but the former has centres established by big (US) companies here. It is a Mecca of the IT industry. We are looking at collaboration with Japanese companies as well,” said Shigeki Maeda, executive vice-president of JETRO. Mr Maeda was quoted on The New Indian Express.

“The Japanese government will be issuing Green Cards for highly skilled professionals. The first of its kind in the world as people could get permanent resident status in as short a time as one year. This is one of the fastest granted rights of residence in the world,” he added.

Maeda said that Japan is working on a new deregulation machinery to test emerging technologies such as self-driving cars, long-range drones and piloting rules changes among others.

“This new system will foster experimental studies in evolving technologies such as IoT, AI, big data, automatic flight, and automatic driving, thereby clearing a path through the thicket of regulations. This will throw up incredible opportunities for Indian IT professionals to test new technologies in Japan with supportive government regulations superior to any other place in the world,” he said.

Japan has eased visa issuance rules for Indian travellers starting this January and under the new norms, applicants do not have to submit their employment certificates and letters of explanation for multiple entry visas.

With around 9.20 lakh IT professionals currently employed in Japan, there is a demand for at least 2 lakh professionals from India, which is likely to swell to 8 lakhs by 2030, Maeda added.