According to Yonhap News,

(NEW DELHI = Yonhap News) Mahindra Group, an Indian company with a controlling stake in Korea’s Ssangyong Motor, pledged last month to invest about KRW 1 trillion in Korea over the next four years.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, met with President Park Geun-hye during her recent visit to India and told her that Ssangyong Motor is finally back on track. During the meeting, Park asked for more investment in Korea, and Mahindra responded, “The Group will invest about KRW 1 trillion in Ssangyong Motor over the next four years to develop new models and hire more employees.”

“The investment in Ssangyong Motor is not just for maximizing profits,” said Mahindra. “We hope to promote Korean cars in the world market. We will make the most of “made in Korea” to encourage Ssangyong Motor to enter the United States and other markets, and actual negotiations are underway to pave the way for Ssangyong Motor to enter the U.S. market.”

Mahindra Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2010 for the acquisition of Ssangyong Motor, and took over the Korean automaker by investing KRW 570 billion to acquire a 69 percent stake in 2011. Last year, the group increased its stake to 72 percent with an additional KRW 80 billion investment.

The group’s headquarters is located in Mumbai, the largest economic city in India, and specializes in automotive, agricultural machines, defense systems and IT services. It is a USD 16.7 billion multinational group with more than 155,000 employees in more than 100 countries across the globe.

“We are already planning to conduct various joint research and development projects for new cars and engines with Ssangyong Motor,” Mahindra said.

India’s English newspaper “The Economic Times” published an article on January 19 about how Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), a subsidiary of the group and the largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, is carrying out a project to develop a compact sports utility vehicle and will be in direct competition with Ford EcoSport. The project is codenamed “S102” and will be one of the first products to come out of M&M-Ssangyong Motor’s joint platform project, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper also stated that the S102 is based on Ssangyong Motor’s “X100”, and it will make its debut in the first half of 2015 and its way into the market by the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

“The group will establish a branch in Korea and seek more investment opportunities as well as partnerships with Korean companies,” said Mahindra. “We will continue to invest in the group’s main business areas in Korea, and the group is currently negotiating with Woori Bank for the conclusion of a MOU to enter the consumer financial market in Korea,” he said.

The MOU is said to be related to a joint venture between M&M and Woori Bank to establish a car finance company in Korea.

“If Korea and India are willing to cooperate based on mutual commonness, the two nations will be powerhouses to open a new era of Asia,” said Mahindra. “We created cooperative labor-management relations after we acquired Ssangyong Motor, and it will be very encouraging if the president pays a visit to the company’s Pyeongtaek plant,” he said.

President Park praised Mahindra for trusting Korea and acquiring the then-ailing Ssangyong Motor and turning the company around. She also said that by its investment in Ssangyong Motor, Mahindra Group became a model of changes in labor-management relations.

Park also expressed gratitude for Mahindra Group’s reinstating of all workers who had been on unpaid leave, and asked for further cooperation in job creation and the reinstatement of retired employees.

Park explained Korea’s efforts to attract foreign investment by introducing the luncheon meeting with business leaders of foreign companies and revised Foreign Investment Promotion Act, and emphasized that Korea will not only become an attractive investment destination, but also an important base for the group to enter the East Asian market, given that the country signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with major trading partners including the United States, European Union and ASEAN countries and is in FTA negotiations with China.