India and Korea will start negotiations from May 25 for the upgradation of their existing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a senior official said Wednesday.

The decision to expedite the discussions for upgrading the CEPA and conclude it in a year was taken during the state visit of Korean President Lee Jae Myung to India from April 19–21, 2026. 

Through the upgrade both sides are aiming to double bilateral trade to $ 54 billion by 2030 from $ 27 billion at present.

India is inclined to negotiate an entirely new agreement with Korea to make it more contemporary but that would depend on how the initial rounds of the talks progress.

CEPA between India and Korea was signed in 2009 and came into force in 2010. Since the outcome of the agreement was in Korea’s favour, the review of the agreement was agreed to in 2016. Since then 11 rounds of talks have been held with no conclusion in sight. 

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The officials said this time the talks would be different as in the last 2-3 years India has concluded several FTAs. The ability of India to do FTAs is much higher and the ambition will be reflective of that.

Since the CEPA, India’s exports to Korea have gone up from $ 3.7 billion in 2010-11 to $ 5.8 billion in 2024-25. During this period imports from Korea increased from $ 10.4 billion in 2010-11 to $ 21 billion in 2024-25. 

Review of Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA)

On the progress in the review of AITIGA, the official said the 13th round meeting of the Joint Committee (JC) that is leading the effort would be held from 6th July. The 12th meeting of the Committee was held on March 30-31.

The review of AITIGA was agreed to in 2020 but the process actually began with the formation of the Joint Committee in 2022.  The demand for the review was made even earlier as India’s exports to Asean remained stuck despite the trade agreement while its imports from the 10-nation bloc soared.

India’s aim in the talks is to liberalise trade in 80% of the tariff lines and product-specific Rules of Origin in the review of AITIGA.

At present the AITIGA has a provision of a uniform 35% local value addition requirement across all product categories to qualify for trade on preferential duties.

AITIGA came into effect in January 2010. In 2009–10, India’s exports to Asean stood at $18.11 billion and imports at $25.79 billion. By 2024–25, exports grew to $38.96 billion, but imports ballooned to $84.15 billion.