-T.S.Chandrashekar
India’s relation with South Korea and Korean Peninsula is ancient and spiritual. The rationale for a close relationship between India and RoK has been reinforced in modern times by political and economic imperatives.
Korean giants that have seized the opportunities in India are Samsung, LG, Daewoo, Hyundai, Posco, Doosan, Hanjin and have grown big in India in terms of brand. Former President Roh Tae-woo, during his visit to India had voiced his opinion that co-operation between India’s software and Korea’s IT industries would bring very efficient and successful outcomes.
Major Korean conglomerates (Chaebols) such as Samsung, Hyundai Motors and LG have made significant investments in India, estimated at over $3 billion. Indian investments in RoK have already exceeded $2 billion. Bilateral trade in 2011 crossed $20.5 billion registering a 70% growth over a two year period.
Samsung India Software Operations (SISO) was established with the primary aim of creating better products and services for Samsung Electronics, has evolved into a 2000+ strong organization located in Bangalore. They have showed there pioneer in cutting edge technologies like LTE (Long Term Evolution), HTML5, Bada operating system for mobiles, Android operating system for tablets and Dolfin browser for smartphone, IP multimedia, voice over IP for LTE platform, 3D video capability on mobile devices and full HD (1080p) recording and playback on handsets.
LG CNS South Korea’s largest software provider are in Bengaluru with more than 1000 employees since 2004 with 100% investment. The Indian centre is focusing on providing product re-engineering, system integration, application development, system management and enterprise services to both LG and non-LG customers in the overseas markets.
Good air connectivity between the two countries has been established with Air India, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air operating flights. Close to 100,000 Korean nationals visited India in 2010. Over 81,000 and 79,000 visas were issued in 2011 and 2012 respectively by the Mission. India and Korea attach great importance to education and Human Resource Development. This sector is emerging as one of the thrust areas of cooperation. Presently, around 2500 Koreans including 1500 school children are studying English, IT and Management in India.
The two countries have also agreed to establish the India-ROK ICT Policy Forum to discuss cooperation on software and information security. As far as implementation of the New Delhi-Seoul civil nuclear deal (2011) is concerned, the India has assured Seoul that it would take up the latter’s proposal for setting up nuclear plants as and when India starts working on phase II of those projects.
At last one can say that Korea and India are building a relationship that is strong and vibrant, which will help both the countries grow mutually. After all Korea has risen from rambles to rich, which is a great example for developing world to follow.
(The author holds his doctorate degree on international relationships and is currently the deputy director of Korea trade promotion agency (KOTRA).He can be reached at kotrabangalore@gmail.com The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of Channel Times or any of the websites managed or operated by Trivone Digital Services)