Why It Means A Surge In Trade?

South Korea was among the first nations to believe in a liberalised India, but Korean investments have since stagnated. Where do we go from here?

- Manish Kumar Jha

THE END OF HIS fourday visit to India, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea set his New Southern Policy in motion and pledged to more than double South Korea’s trade with India to $50 billion by 2030 from $20 billion now. President Moon is the man who brought peace to the Korean Peninsula, bringing together a rather belligerent President Donald Trump and the reclusive and secretive Kim Jong Un of North Korea to an informal parley in Singapore in June.

President Moon’s rather large entourage included heads of Chaebols, suggesting a fresh spike in Korean investment. The Korean Chaebols were incidentally, among the first lot of foreign investors to set foot in India soon after economic reforms were unleashed in 1991, making brands like Samsung, LG, and Hyundai household names in the country. As many as 500 Korean companies now do business in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last visit to South Korea in 2015 had elevated bilateral relations to that of a ‘special strategic partner’ with a diplomatic and security dialogue in the ‘2+2’ format.

While diplomatic bonhomie prevails, bilateral trade is somewhat skewed in favour of South Korea at the moment and dwindling year-onyear. India’s trade deficit with the Republic of Korea was $12 billion in 2017-18 and the total bilateral trade with the Republic of Korea is faltering every year. India’s bilateral trade with South Korea has plunged from $15,785 million in the beginning of 2015 to an abysmal $4,964 million at the end of March this year.