New
Delhi woos French luxury goods companies
AAT News Service
The
level of French investment in India is way below the potential.
Though investment of over $14 billion from France are in
the pipeline, there is need to enhance French investment
in India.
“Given the strong position of French companies, the
level of French investment in India is way below the potential.
There are 800 French companies in India which engage over
80,000 people and we would like to see this growing in the
coming years,” said the Union Minister for Commerce,
Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma. He was addressing the
4th India-France CEOs Forum in Paris.
Mr Sharma invited fashion design institutes from France
to bring their best practices to India in partnership with
the indigenous lifestyles industry. Referring to the recent
decision to allow 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail,
Mr Sharma expressed hope that French luxury goods companies
will establish manufacturing bases in India. “This
will create a win-win situation as India has emerged as
a huge market for luxury goods and establishment of manufacturing
in India will provide maximum value.”
Recalling the success of Capgemini in India, which alone
employs 30,000 people in developing off shore IT solutions
across seven Indian cities, Mr Sharma invited French investments
in the Indian IT sector. The Indian BPO operations have
moved up the value chain from being mere data processing
centres to carrying out value-added research and software
development.
The minister welcomed the interest shown in the Indian automobile
sector by French companies like Renault and Peugeot and
Michelin for investing in India, which would strengthen
India’s position as an automobile and auto part manufacturing
hub.
Mr Sharma invited collaboration with French companies in
both the establishment of National Investment and Manufacturing
Zones (greenfield integrated townships) as well as in making
investments for manufacturing. French expertise in urban
water management and waste water systems would be especially
useful in developing these regions.
France has some of the largest infrastructure and utility
management companies of the world including Vinci, Bouygues,
Suez who would stand to gain from investments in India.
Bilateral trade between India and France stands at over
$8 billion. Today, France is India’s fifth-largest
trading partner and investor in Europe, and fourth-largest
recipient in Europe of Indian investments.
