Widening trade gap with Japan a concern, Ficci flags

Tokyo: India’s widening trade deficit with Japan is a matter of concern for Indian exporters and there is a need for greater recognition of Indian certifications in Tokyo to improve market access, Ficci president Anant Goenka said on Tuesday. He added that there is a possibility of the two sides investing jointly in Africa to secure their supplies and expand mining capabilities.

Indian companies, especially pharma, continue to face difficulties in accessing the Japanese market largely due to stringent certification and regulatory requirements, Goenka told reporters here. There is also “a fair amount of bias of buying products within Japan of Japanese companies,” he added.

He said India’s data centre and semiconductor sectors offer significant opportunities for growth and deeper India-Japan cooperation.

Goenka is part of a 200-plus business delegation accompanying commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in a four-day Japan visit.

“While trade has grown, it has primarily grown one way,” he said, noting that India’s trade deficit with Japan has been widening in recent years.

The two-way commerce between the countries grew 9.18% year-on-year to $27.47 billion in FY26. However, India’s trade deficit increased 21.64% to $15.40 billion last fiscal from $12.66 billion in FY25.

The Ficci president said Indian pharmaceutical companies are facing particular difficulties as they “cannot even register their products yet in Japan.”