It will look for opportunities in telecom and the fast-growing e-commerce sector
Telecom giant SoftBank has pledged an investment of $10 billion (over
Rs.60,000 crore) in India’s IT and communications space, one of the
biggest investment commitments from a Japanese firm after Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to that country.
Softbank — one of the major telecom and internet corporations of Japan —
will look for opportunities in telecom and the fast-growing e-commerce
sector in India.
The proposed investment was committed by Softbank Chairman and CEO
Masayoshi Son in a meeting with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an
official statement said on Monday.
“Mr. Son today assured the Minister that SoftBank would like to invest
about $10 billion in India in the coming years. He placed it on record
that India is the top most priority for SoftBank,” the Telecom Ministry
statement said.
Mr. Son told Mr. Prasad that the visit of the Prime Minister to Japan
had created a climate of hope and optimism about greater economic
cooperation between the two countries, it added.
With a market cap of $92 billion, SoftBank has operations in broadband,
fixed line telecom, e-commerce, finance, media and marketing. SoftBank
already has made investments in Indian companies, including InMobi and
Hike.
“He (Mr. Son) further expressed immense faith in the great e-commerce
potential of India. He estimated it to become a $0.5 trillion business
in the next ten years,” the statement said.
Sources said SoftBank had plans to invest in e-commerce firm Snapdeal.
However, Softbank and Snapdeal did not immediately respond to queries on
the matter.
SoftBank Chairman also asked Mr. Prasad to develop a robust mobile phone infrastructure and resolve spectrum issues.
Mr. Prasad shared the Prime Minister’s ideas and informed Mr. Son about
the incentives such as electronic manufacturing clusters and the package
scheme that the government was providing to boost electronic
manufacturing in India, the statement said.
“The Minister also informed Mr. Son about the vision of the government to transform India into an IT product nation,” it added.
Besides, Mr. Prasad discussed the smart city project of the new
government for which Rs.7,060 crore had been earmarked in the current
year’s Budget.
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