The Korean minister for trade Duck-Soo Han yesterday said anti-dumping measures imposed by India were affecting Indo-Korean trade adversely.
Speaking at the 16th meeting of the India-Korea Joint Business Council at Federation House in New Delhi yesterday, Han said: "The measures adopted by the government of India are affecting trade and leading to a lot of uncertainty and hindering investment flowing into India."
He said the average volume at which the government of India was imposing anti-dumping measures was $2 million to $3 million, which needed to be reduced to encourage trade growth.
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Han said, at present, 17 commodities attracted Indian anti-dumping measures and that the government needed to exercise restraint. "However the commerce minister could not give me a satisfactory response," he added.
He further added that even though there were problems there was nothing which could not be solved and dealt with. The attitude of the joint business council and the two countries was very positive and encouraging.
Regarding automobiles, Han said he did not discuss the subject with Union commerce minister Murasoli Maran as he felt that the Korean automobile companies were doing very well in Indian markets.
Even though these companies might face problems in meeting their export commitments, he did not raise the issue with Maran as he felt that the auto companies could deal with these problems themselves. He further added that these companies should not face any problems on the indigenisation front.
On a remark on double-duty on agricultural commodities by Ficci foreign trade committee chairman R V Kannoria, the minister said the fears were baseless as South Korea, being a signatory to the World Trade Organisation, was following its norms.
The concern expressed by India that Korea was charging dual import duty_a higher rate for government imports and lower rate for private sector imports_was not true, he said.
Korea has uniform tax rates. However, agricultural commodities that are not a part of WTO so far could incur higher duties, he said.
He also identified telecom as a key area for Korean exports to India. He said the code division multiple access technology could be transferred to populous countries like India, China and Indonesia as a large number of people could use the same bandwidth. "We can look at technology transfer and local production", he said.
He stressed the importance of small and medium-sized firms as they could generate both employment and foreign exchange. Therefore, a major part of the delegation accompanying him comprised such firms, he said.