India and Korea on Monday discussed revamping the existing free trade agreement between the two countries to boost economic ties. The pact was discussed during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Korean counterpart Yeo Han-koo.
“We discussed ways to resume and revamp the India-Korea CEPA (comprehensive economic partnership agreement) upgrade negotiations and explored opportunities for deeper cooperation in industrial cooperation, green energy and digital trade,” Goyal said in a post on social media.
The two countries are looking at the upgradation of CEPA, which was operationalised in January 2010. So far, over 10 rounds of review talks have been held. India has earlier sought greater market access for certain products like steel, rice and shrimp from South Korea to boost exports of these goods.
India had also flagged issues over Korean firms not buying Indian steel. India has, multiple times, raised concerns about the growing trade deficit between the two countries.
India’s exports to Korea dipped 9.3 per cent to USD 5.81 billion in 2024-25 from USD 6.41 billion in 2023-24. Imports dipped marginally by 0.34 per cent to USD 21 billion in 2024-25.
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