India and South Korea have agreed to upgrade their existing free trade agreement to create a more balanced partnership, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
The two partners are working to address New Delhi's concern over the growing bilateral trade deficit, which stood at $15.24 billion in 2024-25.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced several important decisions to boost bilateral trade from $27 billion to $50 billion by 2030, including upgrading the India-Korea trade agreement within the next year.
The upgrade of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is significant as negotiations have gone on for almost a decade.
India imported goods worth $21.06 billion from South Korea in 2024-25 and exported $5.82 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $15.24 billion.
The two countries signed CEPA in Seoul on August 7, 2009, and the agreement was operationalised on January 1, 2010.
