UP targets Japanese investment as Yogi pitches state as ‘Second Industrial Home’

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday urged Japanese companies to make the state their “Second Industrial Home”, pitching its manufacturing scale, infrastructure, young workforce and expanding technology ecosystem as a base for long-term investment.

Speaking at the inaugural Uttar Pradesh-Japan Investment Meet 2026 in New Delhi, Adityanath said the state wants Japanese companies to go beyond setting up factories and establish technology centres, R&D facilities, skill-development centres and global supply chains. He described the India-Japan relationship as one of “Shared Growth, Shared Technology and Shared Prosperity”.

“Japan has decades of industrial experience, while Uttar Pradesh has a young generation capable of absorbing this experience and taking it forward,” the chief minister said.

Electronics, industrial infrastructure strengthen UP pitch

Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh currently accounts for 55% of India’s mobile phone production and nearly 60% of electronic component manufacturing. The state, he said, is also expanding its electronics and semiconductor ecosystem alongside data centres, industrial corridors and multimodal logistics infrastructure.

The state has more than 75,000 acres of dedicated industrial land available, while 27 industrial manufacturing and logistics clusters are being developed along expressways. Uttar Pradesh also has more than 96 lakh MSME units, over 35,000 large industries and more than 22,000 startups.

The chief minister said the state has 17 airports, two Dedicated Freight Corridors, metro networks in seven cities and the country’s first Rapid Rail, besides access to 60% of India’s total expressway network.

Green hydrogen, EVs and advanced manufacturing in focus

Adityanath highlighted automobiles, electric mobility, semiconductors, AI, robotics, data centres, clean energy and defence manufacturing as areas where Japanese expertise could complement UP’s industrial base.

He said two Green Hydrogen Centres of Excellence are being established through IIT Kanpur, HBTU Kanpur, IIT-BHU and MMMUT Gorakhpur, with the state government sanctioning ₹50 crore for each centre.

“Japanese manufacturing excellence and Uttar Pradesh’s young workforce can jointly create a new skill ecosystem,” he said, citing Kaizen, Five-S, lean manufacturing, robotics, automation and precision engineering as practices that could be integrated into youth training.

Escorts Kubota project to create 4,000 jobs

The chief minister also cited the proposed Escorts Kubota project as an example of India-Japan industrial cooperation. “The Escorts Kubota project has the potential to generate around 4,000 jobs. In its first phase, the project has proposed an annual production capacity of 60,000 tractors and 15,000 units of construction equipment,” he said.

Adityanath said the proposed tripartite MoU between JETRO, Invest UP and CII could provide an institutional framework for attracting more Japanese investment and strengthening business partnerships.

“From the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ to the ‘Heartland of India’, let us build the industries of the future,” he said, reiterating the state’s pitch for deeper Japanese participation in Uttar Pradesh’s manufacturing and technology ecosystem.