New Delhi: The Commerce ministry on Thursday said that India and South Korea agreed to address the widening trade deficit between the two countries within the overall framework of the bilateral trade pact. The two nations also decided to constitute sub-groups to discuss cooperation in the areas of digital trade, supply chain and strategic industrial collaboration.
The issue was discussed during the 12th round meeting on the up-gradation of the existing comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), which was implemented in January 2010. “Both sides acknowledged India’s bilateral trade deficit, which has risen significantly since the IK CEPA came into force in 2010, and agreed to address the issue within the overall India-Korea CEPA framework,” the ministry said.
The ministry also said that both sides reviewed the progress achieved so far in the negotiations. During the current round, discussions were held on trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin and origin procedures, investment, and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
The negotiations were co-chaired by Kapil Chaudhary, joint secretary, department of commerce, and Park Geun-oh, director general for trade agreement policy, ministry of trade, industry and energy, Republic of Korea.
As per the latest government data, India’s exports to Korea increased 3.31 per cent to $6 billion in 2025-26 from $5.81 billion in 2024-25. “The export growth was negative during 2022-25. Imports grew 1.38 per cent to $21.35 billion in 2025-26 from $21 billion in 2024-25. The trade deficit widened to $15.35 billion in 2025-26, from $15.2 billion in 2024-25. The deficit stood at $14.71 billion in 2023-24, up from $14.57 billion in 2022-23 and $9.4 billion in 2021-22,” the data showed.
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