South Korea's top 30 conglomerates earmarked 1.71 trillion won ($1.62 billion) this year to help partner companies and vendors develop new growth engines this year, the lobbying group for the country's big businesses said Monday.

The Federation of Korean Industries said the total to be offered marks a 7.6 percent increase from the year before. In 2013, large businesses provided 1.59 trillion won to smaller partners.

Of the total, 559.2 billion won will go to assisting sales and purchases, 452.7 billion won will be allocated to improving productivity and 285.5 billion won will support research and development, it said.

Compared to 2010, the FKI said the support given has risen 1.9-fold.

The move comes as large family-run conglomerates, called chaebol, have taken flak for not sharing the fruits of their success in the global and domestic arena with their smaller partners and vendors.

FKI said Samsung and Hyundai Motor groups all pledged to help their partners become global brands in their own right, with SK and LG offering R&D-related assistance and the sharing of technologies.

Nurturing smaller businesses and their joint growth with conglomerates are part of the key economic objectives of the Park Geun-hye administration. (Yonhap)