Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

Minister JK (Jung-Kwan) Kim of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) held an expert meeting on May 11, 2026, to discuss ways to expand Korea-India economic cooperation. The meeting reviewed follow-up steps for the economic outcomes of President Lee Jae Myung’s state visit to India from April 19 to 21, 2026, and explored specific policy tasks to further develop bilateral economic cooperation.

At the meeting, Minister Kim said, “At the summit, the two countries agreed to establish the Korea-India Industrial Cooperation Committee, their first ministerial-level platform for industry and resource cooperation. They also signed a series of investment and cooperation MOUs in areas with strong cooperation demand, including shipbuilding and steel.” Minister Kim noted, however, that the current level of Korea-India economic and industrial cooperation has yet to match the two countries’ potential and expectations. He requested practical policy suggestions from the experts based on their field experience and research.

The meeting brought together experts from major economic and research institutions, including the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation (KICOX). The experts held in-depth discussions on practical and concrete agenda items, including ways to develop a dedicated industrial complex for Korean companies in India; other countries’ economic cooperation policies toward India; a structural analysis of India’s growing trade deficit with Korea and possible response options; and sector-specific bilateral cooperation in promising industries.

Experts noted that India, with a population of about 1.43 billion and GDP exceeding USD 4 trillion, is emerging as a key production base and promising market amid the realignment of global supply chains. While large companies have made inroads into the Indian market, infrastructure and regulatory complexities can present challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises. The experts therefore stressed the need for a dedicated industrial complex for Korean companies in India to ease infrastructure and permitting burdens and strengthen the benefits of business clustering. They also shared successful cases of other countries’ entry into India and stressed the need for a more structured market-entry strategy.

Experts also analyzed that Korean companies’ supply chains in India are largely built around importing intermediate goods, processing them locally and selling them in the domestic market, a structure that has contributed to India’s trade deficit with Korea. They stressed the need to reshape these supply chains over the long term to build a more sustainable basis for bilateral cooperation. This would include developing India-based production sites in promising industries into global production and export hubs, while localizing intermediate goods production.

MOTIR plans to incorporate the views raised at the meeting into its policies and work closely with relevant ministries and organizations to strengthen the implementation of Korea-India industrial cooperation and help translate the outcomes of the state visit into concrete follow-up measures.