India Inc to meet Hollande over high tea

Ambani, Mistry, among nine others that will meet Hollande, expects discussion on investments & JVs

India’s top nine industry leaders will have a exclusive meeting with the French President François Hollande, who is visiting, over high tea here on February 15.

The list includes Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chief Cyrus Mistry, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej, Essar Group vice chairman Shashi Ruia, Bharat Forge CMD Baba Kalyani, L&T chairman AM Naik, State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri and Gopichand Hinduja, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hinduja Automotive Ltd.

A senior official of the Maharashtra government’s protocol department told Business Standard, “these industry magnets will meet French President individually at the city’s five star hotel on Friday. About an hour has been reserved by the French President for the proposed  interaction. They are expected to discuss investment plans and further increasing the technological tie up both in India and France.”

Reliance Industries last year had entered into a pact with France's Dassault Aviation SA to work on defense projects. The pact was signed soon after Dassault Aviation emerged as the lowest bidder for a multibillion dollar order to provide 126 Rafale fighter jets to the Indian military, one of the largest arms importers in the world.

Besides, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd, a unit of engineering and construction company had awarded contracts to set up signalling, train control and communication systems to France-based Thales SA, a maker of aerospace systems and industrial electronics.

Wipro is a strong partner to some of the major French groups helping them in their offshore projects in Asia and other parts of the world.

Moreover, SBI has a branch in Paris and has formed two joint ventures with French companies in the field of life insurance and securities management services.