Cargo Location Service for Industrial Corridors, Japanese Industrial Townships Proposed – India Market Watch

Expansion of cargo location service to benefit logistics in India

After successful implementation along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), India will expand logistics visualization services using radio frequency identification tags (RFIT) to other industrial corridors, such as the Chennai-Bangalore route. This will allow logistics operators to perform real-time searches based on accurate positional information, for instance, showing the location of containers being transported by rail or road.

The move is in keeping with the pro-business reforms and infrastructure development heavily pushed by the Modi government. It will be facilitated through a 50-50 joint venture between the developer behind the DMIC – the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corp. (DMICDC) – and Japanese information technology company NEC Corp.

India’s government owns a 49 percent stake in DMICDC, while Japan Bank for International Cooperation holds a 26 percent stake.

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Japanese industrial townships proposed after Shinzo Abe visit

Four industrial townships will come up in India, after Prime Minister Modi and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe announced the decision at the 12th India Japan Annual Summit last week (September 14-15 ). The townships will be built in: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu states. The plan to establish Japanese industrial townships in India was first discussed in 2015, when 11 potential locations were identified.  

The highlight of the Summit was the unveiling of the proposed US$17.18 billion (Rs 1100 billion) bullet train, from Mumbai-Ahmedabad (Maharashtra state to Gujarat state). The bullet train project will boost India’s Make in India program – creating jobs, building infrastructure, and transferring advanced technology expertise.

Abe’s India visit came days after the resolution of the Doklam crisis between India and China.

And, admittedly, Japan and India are also looking at a strategic response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (also known as OBOR) through the development of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. The AAGC is a US$40 billion project that will connect Africa, Southeast Asia, and India’s northeast states.

Overall, India seeks continued Japanese investments in infrastructure, sustainable industry, civil nuclear technology for energy, and high-end defense technology.

 RELATED: India Market Watch: Japan Seeks Infra Investments in Northeast, Harvard Says India Fastest Growing Economy

India’s women are absent from its workforce

A study by the World Bank shows that only 27 percent of women were employed in India’s workforce in 2015-16. This, even as workforce participation for women is rising everywhere else in the world, and numerous reports signal India as among the world’s fastest growing economies.

Although experts cannot identify an overriding factor, the following present an ecosystem of challenges for Indian women seeking employment in India: unavailability of skilled jobs, low paying and insecure work, such as in construction and domestic service, absence of social care provisions like crèche facilities (except in companies obliged by law), and pressure on married women to stay at home.

Meanwhile, job creation is a big priority for the Modi government.

In the South Asian subcontinent, female labor force participation is 57.4 percent in Bangladesh while it is at 24.6 percent in Pakistan. Moreover, in China, women comprise 64 percent of its workforce, and in the U.S., it is lesser, at around 56 percent.

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