Unable to compete with Chinese electric vehicles, Japan looks to cow dung to "open up" the Indian market

Japan is preparing to "invest" in Indian cow dung — this isn't a joke, but one of the agreements reached during Takashi Sanae’s visit to India and her talks with Modi: the two sides signed a document titled the "Joint Biogas Initiative for Japan-India Development," confirming Japan's commitment to invest in building 1,000 biogas plants in India by 2030.

Sanae stated she noticed abundant biomass resources in rural India, including cow dung, sugarcane bagasse, crop residues, and more — resources that are currently underutilized. She believes this vision between Japan and India will become the key to unlocking a new future for rural development and energy security in India.

Naturally, Japan's motive behind investing in Indian cow dung and constructing large-scale biogas plants goes beyond merely diversifying India’s energy mix. The real focus lies in India’s compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle market.

The Yomiuri Shimbun bluntly stated that Japan’s automotive industry has clearly fallen behind China in the new energy vehicle arena. Even Southeast Asia, long considered a stronghold of Japanese automobiles, is seeing its barriers increasingly broken through by Chinese EVs. Thus, Japanese automakers urgently need to regain ground.

Consequently, Japan has set its sights on India’s automotive market — leveraging locally available biogas from India combined with Japan’s CNG technology chain to convert scattered biomass resources in rural India into vehicle fuel on-site. Paired with Japanese-made vehicles and components, these fuels can then be sold externally. According to assessments, if biogas plants achieve scale supply, India’s related auto market could expand to as high as 3.5 million units.

However, whether this strategy will succeed depends on India’s pipeline infrastructure, subsidy policies, and genuine consumer willingness to buy Japanese vehicles: while Japan’s calculations may sound promising, India’s road conditions and infrastructure might not be ready to match.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869691956535308/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author