INDO FRANCE RELATIONS TRADE & INVESTMENT

India-France Relations
Relations between India and France have traditionally been close and friendly. With the establishment of the strategic partnership in 1998, there has been significant progress in all areas of bilateral cooperation through regular high-level exchanges at the Head of State/Head of Government levels and growing cooperation and exchanges, including in strategic areas such as, defense, counter-terrorism, nuclear energy and space. France was the first country with which India entered into an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation following the waiver given by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, enabling India to resume full civil nuclear cooperation with the international community. There is also a growing and wide-ranging cooperation in other areas such as trade and investment, culture, science & technology and education. France has consistently supported India's increasing role in international for a Including India’s permanent membership of the UNSC. The momentum of bilateral exchanges has been maintained at the highest level over recent years. A clear indication of the importance that France assigns to the strategic partnership with India was the fact that India was the first country in Asia that the President chose for a bilateral visit.
President Frangois Hollande, accompanied by Mme Valérie Trierweller, paid a State visit to India on 14-15 February 2013. He was accompanied by a 6 member Ministerial delegation as well as a large business delegation. He held talks with the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and a joint statement was Issued at the conclusion of the delegation level take. Likewise, he was hosted the evening at the state banquet by Hon'ble President of India. EAM, UPA President, Leader of the Opposition and the ‘Governor of Maharashtra called on him. In Mumbai, he interacted with Indian Business leaders.

Four principal agreements signed during the visit were:

(1) Cultural Exchange Program 
(2) Lol on intensification of Cooperation in the fields of Education and Research 
(3) Statement of Intent for long-term Cooperation in Space 
(4) Joint Statement to follow-up and strengthen cooperation in the railway sector. In addition, there were a serles of , agreements signed in the Education,  Science & Technology sectors, Before the State Visit, the first meeting between President Hollande and Prime Minister Singh took place on the sidelines of the 620 Sumit I Los Cabos on 19 June 2012. 

Institutional Structure for dialogue:
France and India have instituted a Strategic Dialogue at the level of National Security Advisors, whose 24th round took place In New Delhi on September 4, 2012. NSA held talks with the Diplomatic Advisor to the French President, Mr. Paul Jean-ortiz in New Delhi on 12 July 2013, The latest round of Annual Foreign Office ‘Consultations at the level of Foreign Secretaries was held In Paris on 17 June, 2013, The 3rd ‘meeting of the JWG on Counter-terrorism was held in New Delhi on November 19- 20, 2012 The first round of the India-France cyber dialogue was held in Paris on 24 May 2013. The first round of the Track 1.5 India-France Annual Dialogue between the Observer Research Foundation, India, and the Center for International Studies and Research (CER, Science Po—Paris) was held in Paris on 23 May 2013. The High Level Committee for Defense Secretaries, met in New Delhi on 26:27 April 2012 The 11th meeting of the indo- French Research Forum (IFRF) was held in Paris from17-19 December 2012 The 161h session of the | Joint Committee for Econotnic and Technical Cooperation, at the level of Ministers of Commerce was held on 23:25 June, 2010. Paris. The Indo- French CEOs Forum, formed in 2009, has been tasked to identify new avenues for cooperation and take Initiatives to facilitate business links between both countries, The sixth “ edition of the CEO's Forum was held in Paris on 8-9 July 2013. It was inaugurated by Shri Anand Sharma, Hon'ble Commerce & Industry Minister along with the French Minister for Economy and Finance, Mr. Pierre Moscovici. 

Indo French Trade & Investment Bilateral trade

Indo-French bilateral trade has been growing 2008. The growth continued in 2011, with a overall bilateral trade increased by 5.98% to € 7.9 billion riding on an increase in French aerospace exports to India but there was a decrease of 2.06% in the Indian exports to France over the surplus of €1.4 billion.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Approvals:
France,  the 9th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of approximately €2.31 billion (USD 3.01 billion) during the period April 2000 to June 2012 which represents 2% of total FDI equity inflows into India for the period.


The number of technical and financial collaborations approved with France are 952. The top sectors attracting FDI inflows from France are Chemicals (other than fertilizers), Cement and Gypsum Products, Services Sector (financial & non-financial), fuels (power & of refinery), Electrical Equipment (including computer software & electronics) and the automobile sector.
There are about 800 French companies (subsidiaries or JVs, representative offices or branch offices with about 150,000 employees. These Include major French companies like Capgemini, Schneider Electric, Lafarge, Renault, Sanof Avents,Essllor BNP Parbes, Lovls. Dreyfus, Armateurs, Alstom, Areva, Saint-Gobain, Onyx, Pemod Ricard, Alcatel-Lucent, Louis Vuitton, LOréal, GF, Total, Danone, Air Liquide, Vici, Veolia, Vicat etc.

Indo France Corporation Sector Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation 

A landmark Agreement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation was signed between India and France on 30 September 2008 during the visit of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to France. Subsequently during the visit of President Nicolas Sarkozy to India from 47 December 2010, the General Framework Agreement and the Early Works Agreement between NPCIL and Areva for implementation of EPR NPP Units at Jaitapur were signed.

Space Cooperation
Partners in space technology and applications Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and its French counterpart Centre National de Etude: Spatiales (CNES) have a rich history of cooperation and collaboration spanning about four decades. Scientific community of the two nations cooperates in joint radiation experiments, space components development and space education. ISRO and CNES (French National Space Agency) have an umbrella agreement, operating successfuly since 1993, under which joint missions like Megha-Tropiques and SARAL have been taken up. The joint satellite Megha ‘ Tropiques was launched on October-12, 2011 by ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Another joint Indo-French satellite SARAL (satellite for ARGOS and ALTIKA), carrying a Ka-band altimeter to study the ocean surface and a platform for collecting data, was successfully launched by PSLV on February 25, 2013, A ‘Science Seminar’ and ‘Research and Yechnoleq ‘Workshop' was organized in Bangalore during February 05.06, 2013 and ISRO and CNES have Jointly identified areas of further cooperation. A ‘Statement of Intent for Long-Term Co-operation in Space between ISRO and CNES was signed between Chairman ISRO and the President of CNES  on 14 February 2013. Under a commercial Launch Service Agreement between Anirix Corporation Limited (ANTRIX), the commercial arm of ISRO and ASTRIUM SAS, a Company under EADS, France, an advanced Remote Sensing satellite—SPOT -6 built by ASTRIUM SAS was successfully launched onboard ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV—C21) on 9 September 2012. Arianespace based in France has been the major provider of launch services to Indian Geo-Stationary satellites. After the launch of APPLE satellite on a co-operative mode, 14 Geo-Stationary satellites of India have been launched by Ariane on a commercial basis.

Defense Cooperation
Within the framework of structured talks under the Indo-French Defense Cooperation Agreement, several meetings on Industrial collaboration and service exchanges are held regularly. The High Level Committee for Defense Cooperation (HCDC) at the level of Defense Secretaries, met in New Delhi on 26-27 April 2012. The 11th meeting of the Indo-French Research Forum (IFRF) was held in Paris from 17-19 December 2012. Indo-French Al Force Exercise Garuda IV was held at Istres air base in France from 14~ 25 June 2010. Indo - French Naval Exercise, Varuna was held in the Mediterranean Sea of the port of Toulon from 19-22 July 2012. The first India France joint army exercise named ‘Shakti was conducted in India at Chaubattia from 9-22 October 2011. The Government of India has selected Rafael from M/s Dassault Aviation, France for procurement of 126 MMRCA for the Indian Air Force. Contract negotiations are currently ongoing.

Cultural Exchange Corporation
Indian culture enjoys a wide and discerning audience among the French population, as is evident in the numerous and frequent cultural event organized in entire France spanning the spectrum of Indian art, music, dance, cinema, and literature. While the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) sponsors visits of Indian artists to France, from time to time, there are a growing number of private impresarios who organize cultural events throughout France. Hon'ble Minister of Culture of India,Mrs.Chandresh Kumari Katoch was on a two-day officlal visit to France on April 3-5, 2013, During the visit, she met her counterpart Minister of Culture and Communication of France, H.E. Mme Aurelie Fillppetti. The two Ministers reviewed the cooperation between India and France under the bilateral Cultural Exchange Programme, which was signed in Delhi on 14 February, 2013, duringthe visit of President Francois Hollande to India,
including cooperation in the area of museums keeping with the importance both the countries accord to cinema and the willingness to enhance ‘cooperation in the field, revised Indo- French Bilateral Film Co-Production Agreement was. signed during the visit of French President to India in December 2010, An MOU was signed on 26th January 2012 between the Ministry of Culture of India and the Louvre Museum with the aim of establishing an active partnership in the area of exchange of competencies and expertise, particularly in the field of museology, temporary exhibitions etc.

Educational and Technical Cooperation
The bilateral educational cooperation between  India and France has grown over the last few years. Around 300 MOUs signed between Indian and French universities and private institutions. The number of Indian students studying in France in various fields has increased over the years. For the academic year 2011-2012, 2550 Indian students came to France as compared to 2500 a year ago. There is a growing desire to further strengthen the joint statement issued during the visit (February 14-15,2013) of French President Francols Hollande to India, which lays stress on building an education plan including twinning of higher education institutions, mutual recognition of degrees, research collaborations and training of teachers. The framework for bilateral educational cooperation is provided by the Educational Exchange Programme (EEP), which includes mutual recognition of degrees, bolstering the research programme and increasing student-scholar Research mobility through a flexible visa regime.
A Joint Working Group has also been set up under the EEP. One of the most important Inltiatives in the field of education has been the ‘cooperation on the new IIT in Rajasthan, 3 following a joint declaration in 2008. A Letter of Intent (Lol) was signed in 2012. The Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advance Research (CEFIPRA), which has completed 25 years, the nodal framework for promoting bilateral scientific cooperation in fundamental & applied research, frontler technologles and exchange of sclentists and post-doctoral researchers. The offce of CEFIPRA has been estabished in Delhi and the centre is currently funded through an annual corpus of € 3 million, with Indiaand France equally contributing Euro 1.5 milion each. There s interest on both the sides to further bolster research, and technological cooperation between Indian and French research institutions and universities. To this end, two sides have launched in February 2013 the "Raman- Charpak Fellowship” which will nable exchange of doctoral stdents between the two countries. To further broaden the scope of future engagements in S & several Memorandum of Understanding and Letter of Intent (Lol) between Institutions were signed during the visit of French President in February 2013 to India. France will be the partner country for the 2013 Global Technology Summit to be held In New Delhi.

Cooperation in the field of Railways
During the State Visit of French President Frangois Hollande to India on 14-15 February 2013,a Joint statement was signed by Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways, India and Mme Nicole Bricq, Minister of Foreign Trade, Mr. Frederic Cuvillier, Minister of Transportation Sea and Fishing, France to follow up and strengthen the cooperation in the Railways sector between the two countries. A Memorundum of understanding (MoU) was signed  by Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman, Rallway Board, Ministry of Rallways, and Mr G. Pepy, Chairman and CEO Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francals (SNCF),the French National Railways, for Technical cooperation in the field of Railways.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
European companies have invested $198 billion in India in last 10 years. This gives Europe Inc the distinction of being the largest in bound investor group in India. In the same period, companies from the US and Japan (two of the historically large FDI providers in India), put in $138 billion and $50.7 billion respectively. Thus, Europe Inc's investments during the review period are higher than the combined spend of Japanese and US firms. Unlike theirIndian counterparts, European companies have a higher prociivity for internationalising through Greenfield initiatives. Our study shows that about 60% of European FDI was channelised or setting up branch offices, units, subsidiaries and manufacturing plants. Despite the recent economic turmoll, these companies spent $118 billion on 2566 Greenfield projects. European companies have spent $80 billion to acquire interests in 1442 companies. In comparison, Indian companies had spent $38 billion on mergers and acquisitions and $18 bilion on Greenfield projects between 2003 and 2012.
Germany, UK & France Investors from the } European Union's (EU) largest economies- Germany, UK and France clectively account for 64% of the continents overal investmentsin India. The UK is the largest investor from the continent. British companies account for $70 billon ot about 35,5% ofthe overal ELsincia FDI piece. Strong cuitural affinity, colonial links, the presence of a vibrant Indian Diaspora in the UK and overall comfort in dealing with English.