An Indian official recently toured Japan's bicycle industry with an aim to transfer the country's cutting-edge technology and know-how to India, which is currently facing severe competition in the sector from China.
Devinder Pal Singh Kharbanda, director of industries in the northern state of Punjab, said in an interview with Kyodo News earlier this month that his visit's aim was to learn "what Japan has done well in the cycle industry, so we can learn from Japanese technology."
India is the second-largest bicycle producer after China and "70 to 80 percent of cycles in India are produced in Punjab," said Kharbanda, who is also the chairman of a Ludhiana institute that offers worker training and conducts bicycle testing.