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Dilip Sundaram, chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea, said India offers a great hedge for Korea, as turbulent geopolitics heightens uncertainty to the export-led Korean economy. Yet this possibility needs to be better grasped by Korea, he said.

"Exchange between South Korea and India stands at about 17 to 18 billion dollar as of 2016," said Sundaram, who also heads Mahindra Korea, part of Mahindra & Mahindra, which owns Ssangyong Motor. "To a certain extent, we're all slightly disappointed at this point that it is stagnating. Both countries have to work hard to grow this."

In the past several years, the relationship between the two countries has taken some vital steps. The two countries in 2015 upgraded their ties to "Special Strategic Partnership," and back in 2010 launched a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will continue to be upgraded. Experts and policymakers have increasingly touted India as vital to diversifying Korea's trade market, dependent on China and the United States but compounded over the row caused by China's opposition to the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here.

But Sundaram said Korean businesses need to show more "yamang" (the Korean word for ambition, will) in addition to "somang" (desire) for the Indian market.

"Korean companies have somang, but not yamang," Sundaram said. "Every time I meet people interested in India, ultimately Koreans choose to go to China."

He personally saw it as Korean businesses' tendency to do things in the most convenient and familiar way.

"Also, Korean culture is such that they want to do business with friends, so they are very focused on building relationships and I think it is easier for Korean people to build relationships with Chinese rather than Indians," he said.

He sharply pointed out that he has noticed how Western companies come to India to make money and in the process make friends, while it may well be neither for Korean firms.

Sundaram said it may be difficult for Korean businessmen to sometimes correctly grasp the nuances in Indian speech, among other things.

But as ties between Korea and India remain extremely cordial, Sundaram once again stressed the merits of investing in and doing business with India.

"First and foremost, India is the fastest-growing economy in the world today at 7.5 percent growth, and second is that India has the largest middle class (around 300 million to 450 million), which means tremendous market potential," he said.

Sundaram also added that India at federal and state levels provides the best investment incentives, and most importantly, the success stories of Korean companies such as Hyundai that has the second-highest market share in India and the dominance of Samsung and LG should all point to more Korean firms advancing into the Indian market. The recent announcement of Kia Motors to build its first production plant in Andhra Pradesh, India, Sundaram notes, is a positive endorsement of Indian Prime Minister Modi's "Make in India" strategy, and something that Korea should take more advantage of. Another such endorsement is the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding in April to cooperate in shipbuilding for military use. .

With the new government in Korea ready to set sail, Sundaram said he hopes the new coming Korean government puts Delhi-Seoul bilateral ties high on the priority list.

Also, as a global business leader, much of his career has been focused on chaos and turmoil, which he is accustomed to transforming to profitability.

A chartered accountant by training who earned his MBA from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester in the United States, Sundaram joined Mahindra in 2010. Mahindra acquired Ssangyong Motor, a troubled Korean automaker at that time in 2011. This February, the company announced a profit for the first time in nine years: 58.1 billion won in 2016, up from a loss of 61.9 billion won. Korea's third-largest SUV maker unveiled its new car, the G4 Rexton, the pre-sales orders of which stood at 3,500 as of April 14.

"Mahindra demonstrated values: the first and foremost was respect for local management, and at SsangYong we definitely did not change the management and we continued with the management. And it was a Korean management. The way we looked at it was that ‘If Koreans don't know Korea who would know that?' We did not display arrogance that we know Korea better than Koreans. The second thing is that we did not treat labor as enemies, but as partners and we have worked closely with them," he said. Also, Mahindra invested in the future, he added.

"We brought to the table fundamental values respect for the local management, culture and labor," which should serve as a successful role model for any acquisitions overseas especially in Korea.

One of the hardest things to deal with while doing in business in Korea however is labor negotiations, Sundaram admitted.

"We have to negotiate every year. Every two years is the major one and the alternate year is the minor one," he said, which means a businesses's May and June is practically gone. He added that compared with other comprehensive systems of labor negotiations, which may take place once every three to five years, it was one inefficiency he would like to point out.

Before joining Mahindra & Mahindra, he worked at various companies including ArvinMeritor, United Technologies Corporation and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. As a global business leader, he said he learns through both successes and failures and learns till this day.

"When I had my failures, it was first when I had not paid attention to my instincts. The second reason is that I have not assessed the local situation correctly," he said. He advised that courage was required for the first one, and patience for the latter.

He wants to further serve a positive role in enabling other businesses of the Mahindra Group to come to Korea and more bilateral exchanges between Korea and India in such sectors as shipping, defense and services.

"Shipping in the next couple of years may decline in Korea ... while India is trying to upgrade its shipping industry," he said, explaining that India needs help not only in shipbuilding but in other ancillary manufacturing for example as in marine engineering and ship repair. He said he was excited about Korea's Kangnam Corporation, which will help Goa Shipyard Limited, a state-owned company, build 12 mine countermeasure vessels for $5.5 billion.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/biz/2017/05/367_228997.html