India-France Strategic Partnership to drive next phase of innovation-led growth: FM Sitharaman
Paris/New Delhi, July 3 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) The India-France Strategic Partnership is uniquely positioned to drive the next phase of sustainable, resilient and innovation-led growth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.
Addressing an India-France Business Roundtable with leading businesses and institutions in Paris, she set the context of a rapidly-evolving global economy shaped by technological transformation, supply chain diversification, energy transition and geopolitical developments.
The Finance Minister invited French businesses and investors to partner with India in its journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047, emphasising the need for strengthening the India-France Strategic Partnership and working towards shared prosperity for both countries.
FM Sitharaman noted that India and France are trusted partners in shaping the global AI ecosystem creating new opportunities for collaboration in trusted AI, digital infrastructure and next-generation technologies.
She also highlighting the strong momentum in bilateral economic engagement.
The Union Finance Minister underscored the doubling of India-France bilateral trade in the past decade while appreciating the presence of approximately 1,000 French companies which have operations in India.
She mentioned that India is a leading digital economy, powered by Digital Public Infrastructure including Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, ONDC and India Stack, accounting for nearly half of the world’s real-time digital payments, according to a Finance Ministry post on X.
India’s ambitious clean energy transition — including the target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, the National Green Hydrogen Mission and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes — is creating substantial opportunities for investment in renewable energy, green hydrogen, battery storage, offshore wind and smart grids, she told the industry leaders.
Highlighting the International Financial Services Centre Authority, she said it has emerged as a leading global financial hub with more than 1,200 registered entities as of June 2026, banking assets of $111 billion, cumulative banking transactions of $176 billion, and expanding opportunities across banking, fund management, leasing, Global Capability Centres, reinsurance and sustainable finance.
The Finance Minister said that investors may explore deeper collaboration across healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology by leveraging complementary strengths in life sciences, vaccines, APIs, clinical research, precision medicine and digital health to build resilient healthcare value chains.
She also highlighted the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, which presents long term investment opportunities through its upcoming $3.5 billion Infrastructure Fund II and $1 billion Private Markets Fund II, facilitating exposure across infrastructure, digital infrastructure, green hydrogen, energy transition and other high-growth sectors.
