In a flavourful twist to Indo-Japanese collaboration, Suzuki Motor Corp has turned a workplace experiment into a new business venture – selling Indian curries in its home market of Japan.
What began four months ago as a way to provide ready-to-eat meals to Indian engineers at its global headquarters quickly caught on with Japanese engineers who had stints at Maruti Suzuki India, prompting the automaker to launch the curries commercially.
Suzuki has already sold more than 100,000 packs of these curry meals in Japan, highlighting strong demand for Indian cuisine abroad. The ready-to-eat curries have been jointly developed by Suzuki Motor and Torizen Co.
The initiative underscores Suzuki’s strong cultural and business ties with India – its Indian unit is the largest for the maker of Alto and Swift cars, both in profitability and volume terms. Reflecting that connection, Toshihiro Suzuki, representative director and president of Suzuki, who visits India frequently, donned a Nehru jacket while addressing Indian media at the Japan Mobility Show, in a symbolic nod to India as the company’s strongest market.
