India and the Republic of Korea reaffirmed their commitment to significantly deepen bilateral economic engagement, with both sides targeting to double trade to $54 billion by 2030, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
Minister Goyal, while addressing the India–Korea Business Forum, said that India and the Republic of Korea have been tasked by their leadership to double bilateral trade from the current USD 27 billion to USD 54 billion by 2030, requiring an annual growth rate of nearly 18%. He added that this target does not fully capture the true potential of the partnership and called for efforts to unlock the next phase of economic cooperation.
He highlighted the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the India–Korea Industrial Cooperation Committee, comprising four working groups on trade, industry, strategic resources, and clean energy, as a landmark step towards strengthening bilateral economic engagement. A total of 16 MoUs were signed today at India Korea Business Forum.
Minister Goyal further informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Lee Jae Myung have discussed the establishment of a large industrial township—a Korea-specific enclave in India with plug-and-play infrastructure to encourage greater investments and facilitate the entry of more Korean companies into the Indian market.
“This initiative will help Korean companies leverage India’s large domestic demand as well as its preferential access to nearly two-thirds of global GDP, enabled through nine Free Trade Agreements concluded over the past three and a half years with 38 developed economies,” he said.
“Sectors such as semiconductors, electronics, advanced manufacturing, e-mobility, green energy, shipbuilding, and digital trade offer strong complementarities between the two economies,” he said.
Addressing the Summit, President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Jae Myung, said that India, as the world’s fourth-largest economy and home to 1.4 billion people, stands as a key pillar of the global economy.
“There is significant scope to further expand business and trade, adding that bilateral trade has considerable room for growth and, with sustained efforts, is expected to double alongside ongoing negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” he said.
He emphasized the need to prepare high-tech industries for the future through collaboration and by leveraging India’s strengths in artificial intelligence, and further stated that cooperation in the shipping sector will be strengthened.