Shipbuilding with focus on manufacturing LNG tankers among other civilian ships under Make in India initiative will top the agenda of the South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's India visit between April 19-21.

South Korea is a ship-building powerhouse and has agreed to assist India in construction of ships including LNG tankers in Indian shipyards, ET has learnt. The collaboration will involve transfer of technology and India will help to scale up production of ships, according to persons familiar with the matter.

Cochin Shipyards had entered into a, MoU with South Korea for long-term collaboration, including constructing large vessels. Key South Korean industrial giants have a presence in the ship building sector.

Among other sectors that will be on the agenda of collaboration include semiconductors; possible civil nuclear energy partnership and defence manufacturing, according to the person quoted above. The visit is an attempt to boost the Strategic Partnership that has been under shadow due to political developments in Seoul in the last few years.

Lee Jae Myung, elected as President of South Korea in mid 2025, has sought to actively strengthen ties with India, focusing on the Special Strategic Partnership. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the June 2025 G7 Summit in Canada and the November 2025 G20 Summit, discussing trade, defense, shipbuilding, and technology. Both leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to elevating bilateral trade, which saw strong momentum, with targets aimed at $50 billion by 2030.

Trade and economic relations between India and South Korea have gathered momentum following the implementation of CEPA in 2010. Bilateral trade between the two countries in 2025 stood at $25.6 billion, with India's import volume in 2025 as $19.2 billion, while the export volume as $6.4 billion, according to the brief of the Indian Embassy in Seoul.

New Delhi's defence relations with Seoul have strengthened in recent years. Various bilateral mechanisms have been instituted to take forward engagements in armed services, defence policy and defence industry domains. Service level talks across the three arms of the military are held biennially.

Defence Industries Cooperation is growing and this is critical to military requirements, where South Korea retains not only the requisite technology, distinct cost advantage, capacity to absorb capital investment, but also the political will to share threshold technology with India under the ambit of Make in India' initiative, according to an official here. Complementing the same, India has appetite for capacity building, vast market, capital, resources and most of all the intent to grow as manufacturing hub, the official added.

Source: ET Infra. Com 

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