Hyundai can come to Gujarat but conditions apply

Kim Joong-Keun, ambassador of South Korea, has said that the Korean car maker, Hyundai, can surely come to Gujarat "if the state government offers favourable conditions". Kim, who was in the city on a three-day tour, addressed the media on Friday.

He had a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. During the meeting, the chief minister invited Hyundai to to set up car manufacturing plant in Gujarat. Kim replied that Hyundai can definitely come to the state. "If the state government offers favourable conditions and if the situation is good, then why can't Hyundai come to Gujarat?" he said.

On Friday, Kim also met around 20 industrialists of the city. Talking about Hyundai, Kim said the company was currently manufacturing 6 lakh cars per annum. "The company's current production capacity is being utilised fully but, in a couple of years, Hyundai may need to expand its capacity. Korean companies already have a strong presence in Chennai and Delhi. Their next location can also be Gujarat," he said.

During their meeting, Modi showed the South Korean ambassador some infrastructure projects. Later, Kim said that the chief minister was keen to attract investment and technology from Korea but they had asked the Gujarat government to first come up with a concrete plan and blueprint for projects.

"Once the plan is ready, I can bring to Gujarat 10 Korean construction companies who have the expertise to build the longest bridges of the world. But we need a concrete plan from the state government to do that," said Kim. The bilateral trade between South Korea and India is around $17.1 billion out of which Gujarat's contribution is 33%.