India-Korea bilateral trade went up 40% in 2021, touched highest figure of USD 23.7 billion during Covid pandemic period

New Delhi. June 2, 2022: Bilateral trade between India and South Korea reached the highest ever figure of US$23.7 billion in 2021, up by 40% as compared to the previous year’s total of US $16.9 billion despite years 2020 and 2021 remaining affected with Covid-19 pandemic.

This was disclosed by the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to India, Chang Jae-bok while inaugurating the 4th edition of the Korea Fair in India (KFI) 2022 in New Delhi on Wednesday.

After concluding a successful event in the year 2021, the 4th edition of the Korea Fair in India (KFI) aims at promoting Korean products, trade, and culture, and is being organised (June 1-5 at Select Citywalk, Saket, by the Korea Trade-Promotion Agency (KOTRA). KOTRA is the Commercial Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in India.

Ambassador Chang Jae-bok said, “Korea and India have a strong economic partnership that is rapidly expanding. According to data from Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE), bilateral trade between the two countries reached $23.7 billion in 2021, surpassing $21.5 billion in 2018. This was the highest-ever trade volume between the two countries, representing a 40% increase over the previous year’s total of $16.9 billion (year 2020).”

KFI was initially introduced in 2019 as a B2B event, specific to the consumer goods category. In 2020, KOTRA hosted the 2nd edition of KFI on a digital platform due to the covid pandemic. Last year KOTRA took a new initiative to bring the 3rd edition in midst of consumers. With the K-wave picking up, we hosted KFI for 10 days in a B2C setup in Select City where consumers got an opportunity to even shop K-goods.

Ambassador said the Korean Government, to explore new ways to boost trade between India and Korea, has spent time and put in energies with the distribution network to understand the Indian consumer’s needs and to re-position KFI to get those products that the market is demanding. Basis the market insights, in this year’s KFI about 40 products are those that are new to the Indian market. Thus, KFI is evolving this year to be a platform giving plethora of new Korean goods to Indian consumers. Also, this time KFI 2022 invites the consumer goods distribution channel to come and see which new products they would like to pick and choose to widen their product offering for the market.

While talking about the competitiveness of the Korean consumer goods in India, Ambassador Chang said, “One of the biggest strengths of Korean consumer goods would be quality, as Korea’s manufacturing industry is at a top-level. Very strict quality control and consumer-oriented corporate culture serve as a basis for the competitiveness of Korean products. I surely believe that Indian consumers will be fascinated by Korean products after experiencing them.”

This year’s KFI is both an offline and online event. A total of 25 companies are participating in the physical/offline event with more than 200 products. A variety of Korean products can be found this time and you will see add-on categories showcasing Confectionary, pet products, jewelry, BTS goods, in addition to the existing product lines in F&B, Beauty, electronics, and utility. In the on line event 90 Korean companies are participating with 60 Indian potential partners engaging in discussion.