South Korea’s $10 billion boost for India’s infrastructure

As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Korea, on his last leg of three-nation visit, Seoul has announced that it will offer $10 billion to support several of India’s ambitious projects including bullet trains and smart cities.

“My country is offering India a financial package amounting to a total of $10 billion. This will comprise an economic development cooperation fund of $1 billion and export credits of another $9 billion,” said Joon-gyu Lee, South Korea’s envoy to India.

The funds will be utilised to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans for developing infrastructure, smart city projects, railways, power generation and transmission projects in India. There are other potential sectors in India that will be agreed at a later stage.

South Korean companies are upbeat about developing India’s infrastructure, specially railways, ports and other transportation mediums. Companies in Seoul have the experience of carrying out extensive infrastructure projects, from modernizing of existing railway networks to creating a new one for high-speed bullet trains.

Prime Minister Modi has shown great interest in South Korea’s capability in ship building and vessel-manufacturing operations. And Seoul has expressed its desire to collaborate with India in this sector as well. Once the deal is finalized, the two countries will find a way to cooperate in ship building.

“We are working hard on this issue. We appreciate very much the prime minister’s acknowledgement for our ship-building industry. We are obliged, and privileged, to respond to India’s call for collaborations seriously,” said the ambassador.

Several South Korean companies are doing well in India, and this has given confidence to other Korean organisations to expand its manufacturing and other operations in the country.

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