Maruti Suzuki India Limited has signed a significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to promote innovation and foster new business opportunities for startups from India and Japan. This move underscores a strategic step toward strengthening the bilateral ties between the two nations through the collaboration of their innovation ecosystems.
Dr. Tapan Sahoo, Executive Officer, Digital Enterprise at Maruti Suzuki, and Mr. Takashi Suzuki, Chief Director General of JETRO India, exchanged the MoU in the presence of Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO of Maruti Suzuki. The formal ceremony reflected the companies’ shared vision of leveraging startup innovation to address challenges in the mobility and automotive sectors.
Bridging Startup Ecosystems Across Borders
The partnership will serve as a bridge between the startup ecosystems of India and Japan. Maruti Suzuki and JETRO will actively support Indian startups in accessing Japan’s dynamic startup and innovation ecosystem. Similarly, startups based in Japan will gain the opportunity to explore India’s vast and rapidly evolving startup environment.
The collaboration aims to go beyond just technological exchange. Both organizations will facilitate startup participation in key events and networking platforms. These platforms will offer selected startups exposure to new markets, potential partners, and business opportunities.
Startups that participate in Maruti Suzuki’s four innovation programs – Accelerator, Incubation, Mobility Challenge, and Nurture – will gain eligibility to participate in these cross-border initiatives. Japanese startups can take advantage of this exchange through JETRO, which will connect them with relevant stakeholders in the Indian ecosystem.
Focus on Innovation and Economic Growth
Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi emphasized the importance of startups in fostering innovation and driving economic development. “Startups are key drivers of innovation and economic growth. Through our multi-format innovation programs, we have been engaging with startups in India to co-create technology-driven solutions relevant to the automobile manufacturing and mobility space,” he stated.
He further noted that this MoU creates a valuable platform for Indian startups to explore the Japanese business environment. The collaboration could help these startups access global markets, scale up their operations, and enhance their technological capabilities.
Strengthening the India-Japan Partnership
Takashi Suzuki of JETRO India echoed a similar sentiment, highlighting Maruti Suzuki as a prime example of a successful Indo-Japanese business collaboration. “With this MoU, we are creating opportunities for even more fruitful business collaborations between our two nations. This MoU aims to foster innovation, drive economic growth, and further strengthen the deep-rooted ties between India and Japan,” he said.
JETRO, a government-related organization promoting trade and investment, has consistently worked to support business partnerships and innovation exchange. By partnering with Maruti Suzuki, JETRO is expanding its outreach and commitment to supporting startups that drive future-ready technologies.
Maruti Suzuki’s Robust Innovation Framework
Maruti Suzuki has emerged as a pioneer in promoting innovation in the automotive space in India. Through its innovation initiatives, the company continues to invest in startups with transformative potential.
The company’s four flagship programs include:
- Accelerator Program: This program identifies mature startups that can co-create and deploy pilot solutions in real-world automotive applications. It fast-tracks product development and validates startup offerings through direct collaboration.
- Incubation Program: Maruti Suzuki partners with startups at early stages of development and helps them convert innovative ideas into commercially viable solutions. The incubation process includes mentoring, funding, and access to Maruti’s vast network.
- Mobility Challenge: This challenge focuses on solving urban and rural mobility issues. Startups present their tech-driven ideas to resolve pressing mobility-related problems and gain an opportunity to collaborate with Maruti Suzuki for large-scale implementation.
- Nurture Program: Designed to provide long-term support, Nurture offers startups resources, mentorship, and continued engagement with the Maruti Suzuki ecosystem even after the initial programs conclude.
Since the inception of these initiatives, Maruti Suzuki has screened over 5,000 startups. From this pool, the company engaged with around 150 promising ventures, and onboarded 25 as full-time partners who now contribute directly to Maruti Suzuki’s innovation and operational strategies.
A Platform for Sustainable Innovation
The MoU signed with JETRO marks a pivotal expansion of Maruti Suzuki’s innovation ecosystem. Startups will no longer remain confined to domestic opportunities. Instead, they can now leverage this collaboration to connect with the Japanese market, where advanced manufacturing technologies, electric mobility solutions, and AI-driven automotive tools dominate the landscape.
In return, Japanese startups can explore India’s vibrant, fast-paced digital economy and automotive market, tapping into unique opportunities in electric vehicles, shared mobility, clean tech, and supply chain digitization.
This two-way exchange strengthens innovation pipelines and enables both countries to tap into each other’s strengths. While Japan brings decades of automotive expertise and precision manufacturing, India contributes rapid prototyping, tech-savvy entrepreneurs, and a vast market.
Building a Future of Collaborative Innovation
With this MoU, Maruti Suzuki and JETRO are not only building a strategic business alliance – they are nurturing a larger innovation-driven ecosystem. By encouraging cross-border engagement, they are laying the foundation for the next generation of automobile technologies and mobility solutions that address real-world problems and offer scalable, sustainable impact.
This move also aligns with the broader goals of the Indian government’s Startup India initiative and Japan’s push for digital transformation and open innovation. The focus now rests on identifying key sectors where Indo-Japanese collaboration can deliver the highest impact.
Whether it is clean energy vehicles, AI-based driving assistants, sustainable mobility infrastructure, or smart manufacturing processes – the Maruti Suzuki-JETRO alliance promises to push boundaries.
Conclusion
The strategic MoU between Maruti Suzuki and JETRO symbolizes a forward-looking partnership rooted in innovation, entrepreneurship, and mutual growth. By combining the entrepreneurial energy of Indian startups with Japan’s technological prowess, this alliance offers a powerful blueprint for transforming the future of mobility.
Through this initiative, Maruti Suzuki continues to cement its role as not just India’s leading automotive manufacturer, but also a catalyst for startup growth and international collaboration. As the world moves toward connected, autonomous, shared, and electric (CASE) mobility solutions, partnerships like this will shape the automotive and technological landscapes for years to come.