Honda incident won't affect FDI: Japan

Japan on Friday assured India that recent clashes between the police and workers of a Japanese multinational in Gurgaon would not affect flow of investment from Tokyo, while agreeing with New Delhi that the incident was one-off.

The assurance was given by Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Shoichi Nakagawa to Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath in Geneva on Friday, an official release said.

Nath, who met his Japanese counterpart on the sidelines of the WTO General Council meeting, conveyed to Nakagawa that the Gurgaon incident was an isolated one and certainly not the norm.

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He explained the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident and the follow-up action taken by the government to contain and resolve the issue.

The Japanese Minister agreed with Nath and assured him that this would not affect Japanese investment in India, the release said, adding in this context, Nakagawa emphasised that Japanese companies were investing in West Bengal in a big way.

Nath also referred to the Special Economic Zones Act passed by Parliament recently and requested Nakagawa to encourage Japanese firms to invest in these zones.