Invest here, make in India: Piyush Goyal to Japanese firms

NEW DELHI: Urging Japanese companies to invest and manufacture products in India, Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of bilateral relationship.

"Energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of our relationship," Goyal said while addressing at the Institute of Energy Economics Japan in Tokyo today.

Goyal is on a visit to Japan to attend the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue from January 12 to 14. This is the first ministerial level visit from India to Japan after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited India in December 2015.

"We invite Japanese companies to come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India", Goyal tweeted.

"Japan has 70-80 per cent of lighting from LEDs, we are targeting 100 per cent LED penetration in India by 2019," a Power Ministry release quoted Goyal as saying.

Speaking on climate change, Goyal said, "USA & Europe with just 10-12 per cent of the world's populations have contributed 50 per cent of green house gases emissions while India contributes only 2.5 per cent with 17 per cent of population."

The developed countries should support the developing & emerging economies with green technology, low cost finance to keep energy costs affordable, he said.

"Climate justice demands that the developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity and petroleum products", Goyal added.

Earlier in the day, Goyal attended three roundtable conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries.

He will also participate in two roundtable conferences to be held on the theme of Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters on Thursday.

Earlier in the day Goyal tweeted, "South grid capacity increased 71 per cent in last 18 months. Investing Rs 42,950 crore to increase it by almost 3 times by 19-20 to ensure cheap power."