India should host Olympics: Japanese envoy

New Delhi: Japan on Saturday pitched for India as a host of the Olympic Games after 2020 in tune with its growing global stature and impressive economic growth.

Japanese Ambassador Takeshi Yagi said India was the only member-nation in the powerful BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping which has not yet hosted either the Olympic Games or the World Cup football competition and time has come for it to organise the international events.

Sounding upbeat over India's growth trajectory, he said according to a survey conducted by Japanese companies, India has become, for the first time, the most promising investment destination for the next three years.

Complimenting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his resolve to ensure the ease of doing business, he hoped that things will actually change on the ground so that trade between the two countries flourish further.

"It is encouraging that Prime Minister Modi himself has been stressing the importance of ease of doing business. We really hope that those statements, campaigns and initiatives will be implemented and translated into ground realities as soon as possible," he said.

The Ambassador said if India achieves a double-digit growth, then India will be affluent and efficient enough to host the Olympics.

"Among the BRICS countries, India is the only country that has never hosted Olympic games nor soccer World Cup. If there is double-digit growth, I think India will be more affluent, efficient and perhaps confident enough to host an Olympic Games," he said at a leadership conclave.

The 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro while in 2020, Tokyo will host the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.