The Japanese Tech Titans are looking for an Indian solution for the talent crunch

Japanese companies are rushing to acquire highly talented IT talent in India, according to the latest Fly Market application operator Mercari Inc. At the end of June, he established a technology development center in Bengalru.

Merkari Center to open in South India in July The company plans to hire 50 to 60 people in the first 12 months to expand its services in Japan and the United States.

Mercury entered India after the outbreak and several other Japanese companies launched IT operations. They include MUFG Bank, which launched the System Development sub-enterprise in February 2020, and Sony Group Corporation, which opened a Center for Artificial Intelligence in July 2020.

In April, Fujitsu Ltd. also opened a research center in Bengalu to work with universities in India in the fields of AI and machine learning.

Takashi Suzuki, Director General of the Bengalu Office of the Japan Export Agency, said: “At that time, deep technology-related services made India more attractive to its technology and talent.”

Unlike the establishment of Suzuki factories, which helped such companies, he said, “IT may be one of the reasons why IT offices could be set up and why Japanese companies did the same during the outbreak.”

According to government data, Japan’s technology market By 2030, about 790,000 people are expected to become disabled. India, on the other hand, reports that about 1.5 million engineering students graduate each year, according to Jetro.

Following the development centers for Mercury, Japan and the United States, the first step in opening a new office in India was to hire a wide range of engineers. A.D. In 2018, the company registered 29 engineers from various Indian technology companies and brought them to Japan.

“We want to expand our capacity in a way that balances the growing business… and investigative India is one step forward,” said Mohan Bhatkar, head of engineering at the Development Center in Bengalalu. .

Opening a new office will enable Mercury to retain the skills of its employees to work in India and Japan, said Batkar, 34.

Currently, about 50 percent of the engineers are non-Japanese, most of them Indians.

In the past, companies were offering jobs to India or moving a few engineers from there, but he said quality Indians are becoming an integral part of any IT company by improving quality. South Asia is another attractive destination for foreign companies.

A.D. By 2021, India will be the third largest company in the world with more than $ 1 billion in unicorn startups, according to Huru, India.

E-commerce giant Rakuton Group Inc. also employs many Indians. About 1,000 of the 20 percent foreign workers in the Japanese office are from India.

A.D. After opening its first office in Bengalu in 2014, it set up research and development centers in Indore, India, and in the capital, Delhi, in 2018 following the launch of the Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, a cloud-based business. – For commercial supply, in 2021.

ነ India is a vibrant market and a great source of talent and ideas to expand mobile, internet, fintech and e-commerce services. Yasufumi Hirai, the group’s vice president and Rakuten’s chief information officer, told Kyodo News.

However, the high demand for software engineers is not the only reason Japan is attractive for this talent.

The changing nature of Japan’s technology industry makes it attractive to develop non-IT companies with few entry barriers, such as language, Bhatkar said.

Kaustubh Hiware, a 25-year-old Indian maritime support engineer, said the variability of “when and where to work” would increase the attractiveness of the industry. His company encourages its employees to attend side-by-side activities such as speaking at events, investing in angels, and consulting.

India’s Vibhav Kumer, who has been working as a software engineer in Tokyo for 10 years, wants fewer and fewer technology companies to work in Japan than he did a decade ago.

But the IT industry, one of the world’s third-largest economies, still “partially lacks new innovations due to a lack of global capacity, which can enable and understand not only engineers but also managers and leaders with informed, efficient product development strategies.” Kumar, 34, added.

The lack of competition and experimentation in Japan’s technology industry is holding the country back.

Comparing the situation in India, Kaustubh said, “India has a lot of competition because of its population and diversity. Many people need more innovation, which will result in more companies” and even faster adoption.

“If Japan somehow uses the ‘swing’ force, the IT sector here could be higher than in countries like India, the US, China or some European countries,” he added.

In order to attract more foreign talent to Japan, Kumer suggested that companies “support engineering teams to improve their skills, improve compensation, and support English in their organizations, to name a few.”