South Korea’s exports to India have maintained steep growth this year, bringing the two countries one step closer to their shared goal of $50 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. According to trade statistics released by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on September 7, cumulative exports through August reached $16.8 billion, up 30.8% from $12.84 billion in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Cumulative imports over the same period rose 16.2% to $5.03 billion, pushing total bilateral trade past $21.8 billion. The momentum is widely attributed to the heightened economic cooperation atmosphere following the joint trade target announced by the two countries’ leaders during President Lee Jae-myung’s state visit to India in April.<\/p>\n
After South Korean exports to India jumped 41.9% year-over-year in April, the upward trend has continued. August exports alone reached $2.34 billion, soaring 47.3% from a year earlier and marking the strongest August on record.<\/p>\n
The export boom is underpinned by the Indian government’s manufacturing promotion policies. India is accelerating its strategy to become a global production hub\u2014epitomized by the “Make in India” initiative\u2014while rapidly expanding next-generation industrial infrastructure including artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and other foundational facilities. As a result, South Korean materials, components, and equipment companies, including semiconductor firms, are quickly establishing themselves in local supply chains, according to KOTRA.<\/p>\n
By product category, semiconductors stand out as the clear growth leader. Semiconductor exports through mid-August totaled $690 million, surging 177.5% year-over-year and rising to become the top export item. Petrochemicals grew 31.4% to $320 million, while general machinery rose 16.5% to $150 million, both posting double-digit growth. This reflects India’s growing demand for basic manufacturing inputs and equipment upgrades.<\/p>\n
KOTRA projects that demand for batteries, precision materials, and steel and metals will continue to rise, supported by India’s infrastructure expansion and supply chain development.<\/p>\n
Beyond industrial goods, Korean Wave consumer products are also making notable strides. Through July, exports of instant noodles and other noodle products rose 54.7% year-over-year, while beauty products\u2014led by cosmetics\u2014grew 19.2%. This underscores the expanding influence of K-food and K-beauty in the Indian market.<\/p>\n
Building on this export momentum, KOTRA plans to actively pursue the goal of $50 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. The agency intends to leverage the momentum from the South Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) upgrade negotiations, which gained traction following the April state visit, to expand the economic cooperation framework encompassing supply chains and industrial collaboration. To this end, KOTRA is fully committed to the export and overseas expansion diversification strategy established at last month’s Southwest Asia trade and investment expansion strategy meeting.<\/p>\n
Concrete initiatives are already underway. In mid-September, KOTRA will focus on securing advanced supply chain partnerships in conjunction with SEMICON India. Responding to the Indian government’s India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) policy aimed at fostering global electronics and semiconductor manufacturing hubs, KOTRA will host the South Korea-India Semiconductor Partnership Day in New Delhi. At the event, 15 South Korean materials, components, and equipment companies will engage in discussions with local anchor companies including Tata and Micron to explore new business opportunities.<\/p>\n
In the consumer goods sector, KOTRA plans to hold a promotional campaign with Reliance, India’s largest retailer, within the year, and will operate a K-Beauty pavilion at the Cosmoprof exhibition in Mumbai in December. These initiatives aim to diversify Korean Wave consumer export categories and expand entry into large-scale distribution networks.<\/p>\n
Kang Kyung-sung, President of KOTRA, said: “The fact that exports to India have surged more than 30% through August signals that opportunities in this massive market are emerging in earnest amid the global supply chain restructuring.” He added: “We will maximize the follow-up outcomes from summit diplomacy and diversify exports and overseas expansion into India\u2014from materials, components, and equipment to consumer goods\u2014to take the lead in ushering in the era of $50 billion in South Korea-India trade by 2030.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korea’s exports to India have maintained steep growth this year, bringing the two countries one step closer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[999,72543,31,881,55864,1485,5970,73759,1136,33,73758,38169],"class_list":["post-145439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-india","tag-kang-kyung-sung","tag-korea","tag-kotra","tag-make-in-india","tag-micron","tag-reliance","tag-semicon-india","tag-semiconductors","tag-south-korea","tag-south-korea-india-cepa","tag-tata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}