Commerce Minister Goyal Invites South Korean Entrepreneurs To Invest In Defence, E-Commerce And Retail Sectors

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday (12 November) invited South Korean entrepreneurs to invest in new sectors with emerging opportunities such as defence, retail and e-commerce.

Addressing the 4th edition of the India-Korea Business Partnership Forum organised by CII-KITA, the Commerce Minister said that the foreign direction investment (FDI) in India has been growing rapidly over the last few years.

“We have today become an attractive and preferred destination for investments,” said Goyal.

He invited South Korean entrepreneurs to invest in new sectors like Defence and Retail, a Commerce Ministry release said.

“We need to complement our complementary strengths in Automobiles, Textiles, Food processing, Leather Products, Metals, Mining, Chemicals and also through some of our traditional sectors like Steel and look at new emerging opportunities in Defence, e-Commerce and Retail," said Goyal.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative is complemented by South Korean President Moon’s ‘New Southern Policy’.

“Many Korean companies have leveraged the opportunities that India has to offer to ‘Make in India’ for the world using the competitive and comparative advantages of skilled manpower, low cost manufacturing and the Government support that is provided for businesses in India." he said.

He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, India has demonstrated its capabilities in terms of being a trusted partner for businesses around the world.

“We are widely recognised today as the pharmacy of the world providing medicines and vaccines across continents,” Goyal said.

“We plan to manufacture 5 billion vaccines next year and ensure the safety and security of people across the world post-vaccination,” he added.

Goyal said India's economy is bouncing back and will possibly see one of the fastest growth rates across the world.

“Our Exports are at an all-time high,… Both on the Manufacturing side and on Services our PMI is at all-time highs. We are leveraging our strengths to realise the goal of AatmaNirbhar Bharat, a self-confident and self-reliant India...” he added.

He also highlighted several policy measures taken by the government to support industry and services.

“We have a very vibrant Production Linked Incentive programme in which many Korean companies have also participated. We have a National Single Window launched recently, a National Infrastructure Pipeline with projects worth over a trillion dollars providing opportunities for Infrastructure companies. We have reduced Corporation taxes to amongst the lowest in the world giving additional incentives to new investments, liberalised our Foreign Investment regime and many other measures to support the growth of the Indian economy,” he said.

“In the last four or five years India is home to about 70 Unicorns, nearly half of them only in the last year of the Covid pandemic," he added.