India-France trade rose to $20 bn: Chambers of Commerce and Industry Prez

Earlier trade used to be in range of $15-18 billion, and was always seen to be used on the defence, aircraft, the air force, with mostly the industries of defence and aeronautics seen to be involved

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France to co-chair the AI summit, Coumar Ananda, President of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry France-India, claimed that trade between India and France has remained below $20 billion, an increase from the earlier range of $15-18 billion, with most transactions focused on defense and aerospace industries.

Ananda said, "The trade between the two countries has been below $20 billion, which used to earlier be in the range of $15-18 billion, and was always seen to be used on the defence, aircraft, the air force, with mostly the industries of defence and aeronautics seen to be involved. "

 

He added, "I think there is larger potential - I feel there's a certain imbalance we see when we note Indian companies present in France. We have less than 100 Indian companies present in France and there is much more potential. Whereas, historically, French companies have been quite present in India - more than a thousand companies are present in India, with some of them being here for more than the last 100 years, some more than that as well. There are a lot of opportunities that Indian companies look at in France."

"Today, we are in a situation where France has laid a red carpet for Indian investors. We should benefit from that. It's not even restricted to certain industries - it's now across France. Not just the Paris region, but more on the larger scale. For us, this is India moment in France. There is openness from France side and there is interest from Indian side also to collaborate more with France," Ananda tools ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be co-chairing the AI Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and will also address the India-France CEOs forum during his visit to France, scheduled from February 10 to February 12.

 

Coumar Ananda described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to France and India's co-chairing of the AI Action Summit as a significant milestone for both nations, while also highlighting the growing geopolitical importance of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on global governance, security, and workforce development.

 

Ananda said, "For us this visit (of PM) and more importantly now, India co-chairing AI Action summit in Paris, is a very important milestone for India and for France, but from let's say, what it can serve on the technology perspective, and also from a political and a geo-political agenda. AI technology today is much more than just a simple technology, compared to what we used to have - it's much more now."

 

"AI is now a geopolitical topic, and India and France leading this initiative of having this global summit in Paris, it has five main themes...Global governance on AI is a very important topic, the other one is AI for public interest and common good, very important... and the third is around culture and creative industry, how it can impact that. Workforce, HR, is the fourth element, and then of course, there are certain unknown elements as well. The fifth element is around security and all the cyber threats that are being foreseen today. These five themes will be addressed during the summit, and India has a say on the global scene today," he added.

 

"Some of the expectations from the Chamber are that we hope to see more cooperation and collaboration between the two countries," Ananda told ANI.

 

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a press briefing on Friday, emphasised the growth of Artificial Intelligence and prioritised India's expectation from the summit that AI applications should be designed, developed, deployed and used in safe, humane , responsible and trustworthy manner.

 

The visit is Prime Minister Modi's sixth official visit to France.