Indo-Japanese trade has been important since the pre-Second World war period. However, while Japan still reaps advantage of such bilateral trade, India has not benefited substantially. On the contrary, when Japanese foreign trade registered rapid expansion, India’s share in Japanese trade declined. Though Japan is now occupying place among top four trading partners of India, along with USA, UK and USSR, India holds an insignificant position in the foreign trade of Japan. This is in contrast to other developing countries of Asia which have managed to create a niche for themselves in the Japanese market. The author is of the view that bilateral trade between these two major Asian economies should have been at a much higher level and makes a study of why it hasn’t been so till now.
March-April 1989, volume 13, No 2