India–South Korea CEPA 2.0: Why Space Commerce Cannot Be Left Out
With India intending to become an intellectual property powerhouse, and South Korea seeking strategic autonomy, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement 2.0 should not exclude or underutilise the potential of New Delhi-Seoul space commerce.
South Korea’s space domain is currently marked by significant ‘lynchpin’ dependence on U.S. technology and a tentative stance towards international collaboration with other countries, including India. This is despite India and South Korea having enjoyed strong technology-commerce connections, underpinned by their commercial electronics and automotive sectors, and a strong bilateral economic partnership. Hyundai Motors India and LG Electronics India, both subsidiaries, accorded their well-regarded parent tremendous valuations, much higher than their parent companies during their initial public offering. Yet, India’s engagement with South Korea’s space R&D ecosystem remains limited, and a strategic transition from transactional technology trade to a model of co-development and mutual integration, capitalising on India's commercial space R&D expertise and Korea's superior manufacturing precision, has become a necessity.
While South Korea has championed ‘Make in India’, there is now a shift in India’s approach. India no longer wants to be a mere manufacturing hub and is gearing towards supply chain resilience and shared intellectual property.
Historically, Korean investment firms have concentrated on investing in the Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) and e-commerce sectors while the conglomerates—jaebeols—have focused on and excelled in “Make in India” manufacturing initiatives. While South Korea has championed ‘Make in India’, there is now a shift in India’s approach. India no longer wants to be a mere manufacturing hub and is gearing towards supply chain resilience and shared intellectual property. As a strong industrial partner to New Delhi, Seoul should now elevate its bilateral economic relationship through joint intellectual property generation.
Seoul’s Strategic Autonomy, India’s Space Capability
South Korea’s emerging space sector is at a crossroads, with Seoul seeking to define and pursue strategic autonomy. It would benefit from diversifying its value chains following global geopolitical turbulence and developing a more mature approach to some of its bilateral partnerships. As a long-standing, autonomous geopolitical space power, India is uniquely positioned to fill these gaps and also benefit from South Korea’s competencies through technology exchange, infrastructure and data sharing, and strategic investments.
India ought to pursue Korea’s advanced electro-optical payloads, including mirrors, sensors, and lenses, as well as radiation-hardened electronics. Conversely, India can provide proven satellite buses, precision payloads, lunar landing technology, dependable launch services through commercial launchers, and cost-effective downstream, upstream, and midstream services drawing on the long-standing legacy of the Indian Space Research Organisation and the capabilities newly developed by Indian space enterprises. India is no longer just a manufacturing destination; it has integrated high-end R&D as an integral part of manufacturing. To that end, both New Delhi and Seoul should co-recognise technology testing, certification, and standards. This co-recognition would ensure export readiness for the global market, positioning the India–Korea bilateral as an effective manufacturing partnership for the world. The partnership must focus on establishing shared production facilities for space-grade semiconductors and high-performance onboard computing systems.
India is no longer just a manufacturing destination; it has integrated high-end R&D as an integral part of manufacturing.
India must facilitate joint ventures between the Indian private sector and Korean giants like Hanwha Systems and Satrec Initiative. By establishing joint production facilities, both nations can create scalable industrial capacity that integrates India and Korea into the global space supply chain. Commercial space collaboration between Indian and South Korean enterprises could focus on (1) developing a New Sustainable Non-Constellation Architecture for next-generation communication and Earth-observation systems, (2) co-developing high-performance avionics and miniaturised payload systems for satellites, and (3) establishing a reciprocal network for satellite data downlinking, thereby enhancing operational redundancy for both nations across the Indo-Pacific.
Embedding Space in CEPA 2.0
While these areas of cooperation have been identified, they must not fall outside the scope of the fundamental economic cooperation mechanisms of both countries. The India–South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is up for revision as CEPA 2.0 potentially in the near future, must now formally embed 'space and critical technologies' to harmonise joint intellectual property (IP) development. Through this newly embedded category in CEPA, new and transparent pathways could be created for Indian firms to enter Korea’s specialised space clusters, providing clear guidelines on ownership and procurement eligibility, and vice versa. Since both governments are likely to remain anchor customers for their respective space enterprises, they should consider establishing commercial-to-government procurement norms, allowing Indian private firms to support Korean national missions through local partnerships.
The India–South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is up for revision as CEPA 2.0 potentially in the near future, must now formally embed 'space and critical technologies' to harmonise joint intellectual property (IP) development.
The transition from a ‘buyer-seller’ relationship to a ‘co-developer’ partnership is of paramount importance. By integrating India’s extensive scale and multi-decade space R&D capabilities with Korea’s precision manufacturing and translational expertise, both nations can effectively mitigate single-point failures within their respective supply chains and solidify their leadership positions in the high-tech economy of the Indo-Pacific region.
Conclusion
In recent high-profile bilateral meetings, the trade imbalance emerged as a key point of deliberation as India’s exports to South Korea remain roughly three times lower than South Korea’s imports to India. This trade imbalance can be addressed if both countries avoid limiting space cooperation to space agencies and startups alone, as these two modalities will not generate the volume of trade required to reach the US$ 50 billion target by 2030. South Korea will have to push its semiconductor and precision electronics exports to India, while India will need to expand dependable commercial space launches, advanced commercial geospatial artificial intelligence datastreams, and communication satellite services to South Korean partners. Keeping the bilateral space partnership confined to space agencies or startup-level collaboration alone would serve little purpose for either country, particularly in a turbulent geopolitical environment.
Read the original piece on the Observer Research Foundation website through this weblink - https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/india-south-korea-cepa-2-0-why-space-commerce-cannot-be-left-out
