India woos South Korean businesses to invest in India

NEW DELHI: The government today invited South Korean investors to invest in India while citing before them the initiatives taken by the Centre to simplify procedures, bring in transparency and systemic improvements.

Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met a delegation from South Korea led by Mayor of Pohang Lee Kang-deok here today, according to an official statement.

During the meeting, Tomar highlighted some of the government's initiatives such as 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' and "invited South Korea to invest in India and partner by knowledge exchange and technology transfer," it said.

"The Minister explained in detail how government of India is improving ease of doing business in India by simplification of procedures, bringing transparency and systemic improvements like MMDR Amendment Act," it said.

The amendment has made the auction process transparent, Tomar had said recently.

The Mayor of Pohang expressed gratitude to the Indian government for continued support to Korean companies in India and sought same level of cooperation in future also.

Other issues that came up for discussion included status of Finex-based integrated steel plant proposed to be set up by Posco and SAIL; collaboration in R&D and energy efficient, environment friendly green technologies and waste utilisation; supply of iron ore by NMDC from its mines to the steel mills in the Republic of Korea, the statement said.

Discussions were also held on developing value added products/special steels with collaborative arrangements from steel majors in Korea and design of Slag Granulation Plant (SGP) to introduce the technology in existing steel plants in India, it said.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Mines and PSUs were present during the meeting.