The Chairman and CEO of the japanese telecom and internet giant SoftBank, Masayoshi Son met the Minister for Communications and Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi last evening. They discussed issues relating to possibilities of SoftBank further investing in India. The Minister shared with Mr. Son the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India and his ideas of “Speed, Scale and Skill” and “3Ds- Democracy, Demography and Demand”. Ravi Shankar Prasad informed Son about the incentives such as Electronic Manufacturing Clusters and MSIPS that the government is providing to boost electronic manufacturing in India. Highlighting the great potential of India in the field of electronics and IT, the Minister welcomed SoftBank to enhance its investments in India. He also shared the Smart City project that this government has committed to develop and explained how this would create a huge demand for electronic goods and IT services in the coming years.
Son told the Minister that the recent visit of Prime Minister Modi to Japan has created a climate of hope and optimism about greater economic cooperation between India and Japan. Shri Son also told the Minister that SoftBank would like to invest approximately $ 10 billion in India in the coming years. He placed it on record that India is the top most priority for SoftBank. He further expressed immense faith in the great eCommerce potential of India. He estimated it to become a $0.5 trillion business in the next 10 years. Mr. Son shared with the Minister that the growth of eCommerece would lead to employment generation in India by opening up new avenues. He further requested the Minister to develop a robust mobile phone infrastructure and sort out the issue relating to spectrum. The Minister welcomed the optimism shown by Shri Son in India and said that it would go a long way in enhancing cooperation between India and Japan.
He also highlighted the efforts that are being made by this government for developing a world class communication network in India. He further, assured him that the government is working hard on sorting out all issues relating to spectrum in India. Son, who is Japan’s richest businessman and ranks 45th in Forbes list of world’s most powerful person, had met the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his visit to Japan and had assured him of big investments in India. He also called on the Prime Minister again yesterday in New Delhi. With a market cap of $ 92 billion, SoftBank is one of the biggest telecom and internet corporations of Japan with operations in broadband, fixed line telecom, e-Commerce, finance, media and marketing. SoftBank already has already made investments in some Indian companies recently.