Public Transport policies in Korea

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th  Korea’s traffic policies, beginning with the reform of its public transportation system, and integrated use of information technology, has been acknowledged for its effectiveness and benchmarked by many other countries. The transport network in Seoul is famed for its impressive standard of operational capacity and efficiency, and for incorporating the latest technology to make commuting convenient. Before the public transport reforms of 2004, the bus system in Seoul faced severe problems as few people used it, leading to a deficit, that affected the quality of service. The reforms introduced an integrated operation system along with Bus Rapid Transit. The government introduced what it calls a ‘quasi-public operation system’, under...

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Korea: Speeding on the IT, communications superhighway

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th Korea has one of the world’s most active telecommunications and information technology markets backed by strong support from the Government. No surprise that Korea was ranked No. 1 among 152 countries surveyed in the ICT Development Index of the International Telecommunication Union in end-2012. The data rank Korea as the world’s most advanced ICT economy for the sixth year in a row followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. The index is aimed at assessing ICT development routes, digital gaps and growth potentials of each country. The ranking is proof of the Korean Government’s efforts over the years to improve its regulatory environment and to promote policies to advance IT infrastructure. Korea is one of the fastest growing...

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Cost of living for students in Korea

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th  South Korea is increasingly seeing international students flocking to its universities for undergraduate, graduate and research programs. There are about 400 national and private universities, some of which have research facilities in several emerging scientific fields. With many scholarship options available, more Indian students are choosing to study in Korea and the community is slowly increasing in size. While most choose universities in Seoul, there are also a few who consider other reputed organizations in Daejon, Gyeonggi Province, and Busan. If you have got admission to a university in Seoul, undoubtedly the first question that pops up in your mind would be the cost of living. While it is true that Seoul is an expensive...

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Indian investments in Korea: A wealth of opportunity

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th Sandwiched between China and Japan, Korea somehow has escaped the sweep of Indian businesses seeking to expand in East Asia. The ‘Look East’ policy seems to somehow overlook the most stable economy in the region. In the last fiscal, Indian direct investment in Korea, as tracked by the Reserve Bank of India, amounted to only $3.51 million. In comparison, investments in China were pegged at $66.68 million and in Japan at $19.21 million. In other words, the data on Indian ODI show that investments in Korea were just 3.93 per cent of the total investments in the Big-3 East Asian economies, even three years after the signing of the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a de facto free trade agreement. It was widely...

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Korean investments in India: Growing, but at a slow pace

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th Large Korean brands are household names in India and their strength has grown in the years since they first started operations. However, the fact remains that Korean FDI inflows have been growing at a very tardy pace, and companies seem to be keener to explore other emerging markets. Many Korean companies were the first movers as FDI investors in India, following the spate of reforms and liberalization since 1991. They started to invest by forming joint ventures with local companies or established wholly owned subsidiaries, predominantly in automobiles and white consumer goods. With clever business models, they managed to make deep inroads into the Indian market, in a relatively short period of time, led by technology giants Samsung Electronics,...

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