Japan, India Aim for More Than 500,000 People-to People Exchanges over Next 5 Years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:08 JST, August 27, 2025

The Japanese and Indian governments aim to formulate a plan to promote people-to-people exchanges, setting a target of more than 500,000 people over the next five years, according to sources close to the Japanese government.

Tokyo aims to increase exchanges in government, industry, academia and other sectors, harnessing India’s dynamism to fuel Japan’s economic growth.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to reach an agreement on the plan during their meeting on Friday.

Of the 500,000 people, 50,000 are expected to be highly skilled Indians with specialized knowledge who will work in Japan.

India has the world’s largest population, exceeding 1.4 billion people, and is experiencing remarkable economic growth. It also boasts an abundance of highly skilled IT professionals, who are expected to play a significant role in Japan’s tech industry, which suffers from chronic labor shortages.

However, since skilled Indian professionals who speak English tend to choose to work in North America or Europe, the governments plan to strengthen Japanese language education at local educational institutions and establish an environment to attract such workers to Japan.

In the academic field, the governments will promote the acceptance of Indian students and researchers in Japan and will support Japanese students studying in the country.

The governments will initiate discussions between relevant ministries regarding policies to increase student exchanges and help skilled Indian workers secure employment at Japanese companies.

Japan and India will also encourage joint research between Japanese and Indian universities and establish platforms for inviting young Indian researchers to Japan to facilitate exchanges of information.

According to the Japan Student Services Organization, the number of Indian students in Japan in the 2024 academic year was 1,685. The figure is significantly lower than the number of Chinese students, making up the largest group with 123,485 students, and the number of Nepalese students, making up the second largest group with 64,816 students.