This will be PM Modi’s third visit to France since 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be embarking on a visit to Paris as the Guest of Honour at France’s Bastille Day (National Day) celebrations on 14 July. The visit coincides with the 25 years of the strategic partnership between France and India. Of all the security partnerships that India has now with other countries, the one with France has been the most enduring. In 1998, France was the first country with which India established a strategic partnership, which has since been accorded to more than 30 countries.
This will be PM Modi’s third visit to France since 2019, which is reflective of a strong relationship that is heavily focused around three crucial pillars of defence, space and nuclear cooperation. History reflects upon France as India’s close ally. For decades France and India have collaborated on space and civil nuclear programs. Since the 1960s France provided technical assistance for the construction of Sriharikota launch-pad. ISRO and the French Space Agency (CNES) have been carrying on various joint research programmes and collaborating in satellite launches. Following India’s peaceful nuclear explosion tests in 1974, the United States and Canada terminated their nuclear engagements with India, but France supplied India with fuel for the Tarapur nuclear plant. France was one of the few countries that did not impose sanctions on India after the nuclear tests in May 1998. In fact, the then French President Jacques Chirac publicly supported New Delhi and opposed US sanctions. Soon after the India-specific waiver was granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September 2008 to engage in civil nuclear trade, France was the first country to sign a civil nuclear agreement with India for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project.
Over the years, India and France have become reliable defence partners and this is expected to continue. France is the second largest supplier of arms (after Russia), accounting for 29% of India’s arms imports. This helps India diversify its defence supplies away from heavy dependence on Russia. PM Modi’s visit could see announcement of an estimated $5-6 billion deal to acquire 26 Dassault Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy’s newly commissioned indigenously designed aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. The French government has given its go-ahead to defence major Safran to jointly design, develop, test, manufacture and finally certify an engine that is expected to power New Delhi’s indigenously produced twin-engine advanced multi-role combat aircraft, as well as a naval version for aircraft carriers. The timing is crucial as it comes on the heels of the recent state visit of PM Modi to the US where the American government gave the necessary export authorization for the co-manufacture of GE Aerospace F-414 jet engines in India with 80% transfer of technology for the Indian Air Force. To counter the American offer, France is said to have offered a 100% transfer of technology for the co-development of a new 110kN high-thrust jet engines with India. This will create a 360-degree capability and ownership of full engine technology by India.
On the economic front, around 150 Indian companies operate in France. While there are more than 1,000 French establishments present in India that have a total turnover of $20 billion and employs 300,000 people. A few areas in which their activity is particularly marked are aeronautics, renewable energy, transport, urban development and sustainable cities, digital technology, and nuclear energy. The cumulative FDI inflows from France to India touched $10.5 billion in April 2020-March 2023. The bilateral trade between the two stands at $13.4 billion for 2022-23, accounting for less than 1.2% of India’s total trade. Last month, Airbus, the French aerospace giant, received the biggest aircraft order in the history of commercial aviation with Air India and Indigo ordering 250 and 500 planes.
The French Agency for Development (AFD) has financed close to $2.1 billion across 26 projects since 2008 in the form of loans to the state and state-owned companies, as well as technical assistance programs. France is also partnering with India to develop Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur as smart cities and has committed $2.2 billion for the smart cities project. France is a founding member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), announced by PM Modi in 2015 at UN Climate Change CoP21. The countries signed an MoU on renewable energy in 2021 to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy, covering technologies related to solar, wind, hydrogen, and biomass energy.
Despite vast possibilities of cooperation across multiple fronts, it remains far below its potential. Both countries need to create a roadmap to further their engagement. One such burgeoning area could be in cultural and educational linkages. There is now greater facilitation of academic and scientific exchanges, and student mobility between leading Indian and French higher education institutions. In 2019, 10,000 Indian students chose to pursue higher education in France, this is expected to double to 20,000 by 2025.
Both nations have charted their own unique “strategic autonomy” in the global geopolitical maze. The strategic partnership between the two is anchored on consistent mutual trust. There is congruence on several global issues such as climate change, sustainable development, vision towards promoting stability and security in the Indo-Pacific. As Victor Hugo once said, “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come”. The limitless avenues of India-France relations going “forward, broader and deeper” is one such idea.
Dr Mohit Anand is Prof of International Business and Strategy at EMLYON Business School, France. Rajesh Mehta is a leading consultant and column