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Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said Wednesday it expects to complete the acquisition of South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor Co. Ltd in four months and that the two auto makers may share vehicle platforms, helping reduce vehicle development costs.

“While we will maintain a distinct identity between Mahindra and Ssangyong vehicles, there is a potential for sharing platforms,” Pawan Goenka, president incharge of Mahindra’s automobile and tractor business, told reporters at a news conference.

Mahindra was selected as the preferred bidder by Ssangyong’s creditors on Aug. 13 to acquire a majority stake in the Korean firm, which has been under court-led bankruptcy protection since early last year after experiencing a severe cash shortage due to a slump in sales of its mainstay SUVs.

Goenka said synergies between the two companies might help bring down vehicle development costs. He refused to elaborate on the likely deal size or on the stake it plans to buy in the Korean auto maker.

But Goenka said Mahindra may consider introducing in India Ssangyong’s new sport-utility vehicle, Korando C, which goes on sale in South Korea by December.

Ssangyong is likely to sell between 70,000 and 75,000 of its vehicles in its home market this year, more than double of the 35,000 units it sold in 2009, Goenka said.

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Above pictures courtesy: Businessweek & 4theloveofjeeps

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I had always wondered about the procedure of choosing a guest for the Republic Day celebrations that happen in New Delhi.  Going by this article, there seems to be a strategy behind the whole selection.  It all depends on the way India percieves the person its inviting, the kind of relations between the two countries and if India wants to elevate the relationship level and lots more.  This year’s Republic Day guest is South Korean President, Lee Myung-Bak.

In an innovation increasingly evident, the government has been weaving strategy with hospitality to decide its chief guest for the Republic Day. So in the 60th year of the republic, as it gets ready to host chief guest and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, New Delhi has given the final environmental clearance to Posco, the South Korean steel giant, to set up a $12-billion steel plant in Orissa. The project is the single biggest foreign investment in the country.

There are other reasons as well for India to extend this year’s honour to Lee. South Korea is an influential player in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum where India has a growing stake, because of which New Delhi feels the need for a greater engagement with APEC member countries.

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Pictures courtesy: Wikipedia & 26alphabets

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South Korea and India signed an ambitious free trade agreement Friday that slashes tariffs, encourages investment and promotes exchange of skills in a bid to double fast-growing commerce between two of Asia’s biggest economies over the next decade.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma signed what the two sides formally called a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, but which in reality is a free trade deal.

Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea

“This is a historic occasion,” Sharma said at a joint press conference with Kim.

Kim said it was South Korea’s first free trade accord with one of the fast-growing BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sharma said it was India’s first comprehensive trade agreement with a major economy. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $15.6 billion dollars last year, according to South Korea, and has been steadily growing. In 2002, it amounted to just $2.6 billion.

“We will be able to have access to one-sixth of the global market,” Kim said, adding the agreement “will open a significant opportunity as well as strengthen our relationship with India into the future.”

Sharma said the economic relationship between the two countries “has enormous potential to grow” and could double over the next 10 years.

“That’s what we will be aiming at,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

The deal calls for abolishing or cutting tariffs for 90 percent of Indian goods in terms of value and 85 percent of South Korean products and increases investment opportunities, Seoul’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement. It also allows for greater human resources exchange between the countries, the ministry said, paving the way for Indian computer and software experts as well as English teachers to gain access to the South Korean market.

“India has great competitiveness in terms of its IT professionals and so they will be able to come to Korea to contribute to the growth of the national economy in Korea,” Kim said. “English teachers from India will be able to contribute to the development of education in Korea as well. “

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

Major South Korean corporations such as Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co., LG Electronics Inc. and steelmaker Posco are already active investors in India. Negotiations for the deal began in February 2006.

Though the agreement has been signed, several steps remain on the South Korean side for it to take effect, such as ratification by the National Assembly, according to the ministry. India, however, has completed all necessary procedures for the deal to take effect, the ministry said. The latest deal highlights South Korea’s national strategy of aggressively pursuing free trade agreements.

Seoul signed a free trade deal with the United States in 2007, though it has yet to be ratified by legislatures in both countries amid political sensitivities and suspicions regarding free trade among some lawmakers. Seoul also has a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and said last month it has concluded negotiations with the European Union. South Korea’s biggest trading partners include China, the EU, the U.S., ASEAN and Japan.

Above news source: AFP

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