By Lee Hyo-sik
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit a Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) plant in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan on May 19.
He will meet HHI Chairman Choi Gil-seon and CEO Kwon Oh-gap, and tour the facility, the company said Friday.
The visit is attracting keen attention from business circles, given Modi’s hectic two-day schedule. He will be in Korea on May 18 and 19 for a summit with President Park Geun-hye to find ways to boost bilateral cooperation in security, trade and other areas.
On the sidelines, he will take part in business forums and hold a series of meetings with the heads of the country's conglomerates, including POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo.
“We are aware that Indian Prime Minister Modi will visit our Ulsan plant and meet with Chairman Choi and CEO Kwon,” a HHI spokesman said. “But we don’t know the specifics of his visit and what he will discuss with company leaders.”
Shipbuilding industry watchers speculate that Modi and HHI chiefs would likely discuss Indian gas firm Gail’s planned order of nine LNG carriers, valued at more than 7 trillion won ($6.36 billion). Gail is India’s largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company.
The Indian government says it will award the contract to a foreign shipbuilder that constructs at least three of the nine vessels at a plant in India. This is part of the Modi’s “Make in India” campaign to reinvigorate the country’s manufacturing industries.
The world’s largest shipbuilder was reluctant at first to set up operations in India and transfer shipbuilding knowhow to Indian firms.
But Hyundai Heavy appears to have changed its stance because it recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian shipbuilder L&T to boost technical cooperation. The company has been struggling to secure orders because of fierce competition amid a sluggish global market.
Chinese shipbuilders, in particular, have caught up with Korean manufacturers, making it harder for local players to win orders abroad. Falling oil prices have also slashed demand for oil tankers and other ships.