The public and private sectors are making efforts to secure workers from India, targeting not only students and highly skilled information technology engineers but also workers for industries such as manufacturing that are suffering labor shortages.

"Many Japanese universities are keen to attract the best and smartest students and researchers," Kiyohiro Hokin, president of Hokkaido University in Hokkaido, said at a forum of Japanese and Indian universities held in New Delhi in mid-October.

Leaders of over 70 universities and research institutions from the two countries attended the forum, with some of them also holding individual talks on expanding cooperation. The event, the third of its kind, was held in India for the first time.