The Indo-French bilataral trade is set for growth as more French companies collaborate with their counterparts here while also stepping up sourcing from India.

Growth expected Francois Richier, French Ambassador to India, said the economic cooperation is poised for significant growth and this can be gauged from the fact that investments by the French companies have been growing by about € 1-2 billion a year.

Speaking at a meeting hosted at the National Geophysical Research Institute, the Ambassador said more than 1000 French companies currently operate in India, and of them about 400 big firms. The total investment has topped €20 billion.

Asked if the Modi Government push for ‘Make in India’ would attract more French companies to set up their base, he said already a number of companies source from India and this would only get bigger.

Sourcing from India During the visit of Narendra Modi, he had visited facilities of Airbus in Toulouse. Airbus had indicated that it may source up to €4 billion worth components from India and this could only increase.

Richier, who is touring Hyderabad and held meetings with the representatives of the Telangana Government, said his current focus has been on areas of cooperation in the water management segment, where there is immense scope for sharing technologies.

During his visit to CSIR-NGRI, the French ambassador held parleys on the Indo-French Water Network, whose main objective is to draw attention to the Telangana Government’s water and irrigation authorities to the existing collaboration in the water sector and how this could be made mutually beneficial.

Global concerns Explaining the larger universal goal of addressing concerns of global warming and its far-reaching impact on people and nations, he said the main agenda now is to work out ways and ensure that the increase in temperature is restricted.

He said the increase in temperature could potentially trigger a number of problems and this is the single biggest challenge for the global scientific community.

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