Japan to hire 200,000 IT professionals this year

Slowed by an ageing population, Japan is now keen to hire 200,000 Indian IT professionals during the calendar year

According to Shigeki Maeda, executive vice-president of Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro), Japan has an immediate requirement for over 200,000 professionals.

This could rise and the shortage is likely to touch 800,000 by 2030.

Jetro is a Japanese government agency to develop trade between Japanese businesses and other countries.

Maeda told The Economic Times that Japan currently had 920,000 IT professionals, but faced a growing requirement, in the country's bid to revolutionise its manufacturing process by adopting new and emerging technologies.

''India can bridge that gap. If a company in Japan has an immediate demand for say 5,000 engineers, only India can come to their aid. All sectors are facing the crunch as they are interlinked and connected... whether it is healthcare, agriculture, research and development or services or finance.''

Speaking at a fuction organised jointly by Jetro and Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce He pointed out that Indian professionals were more keen on going to the US and Europe, where competition was tougher, compared with Japan, where life was far easier.

Japan currently outsources some of its requirements to China and Vietnam, owing the similarities of language. Maeda also added that Indians did not show an interest in learning Japanese, which led to India losing out on business opportunities from Japan.

''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 right of residence in the world,'' he said.

''Japan has become the third-largest investor for India after Mauritius and Singapore. Companies such as Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi have already initiated the process of establishing an R&D centre in India,'' Maeda said.