French connection

As Francois Hollande becomes the third French head of state to be chief guest at the Republic Day parade this year, he follows worthy predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac who were similarly honoured. Although his aim would be to ink the deal to sell 36 Rafale fighter jets to India, it is important to look at the broader picture of Indo-French ties that has grown over the past decades.

After the Cold War ended, French presidents have taken a strong lead in cementing Indo-French ties; chief among them being Chirac and Sarkozy, ably assisted on the Indian side by visionary prime ministers.

PV Narasimha Rao was the key driver of India’s economic reforms that opened up the huge domestic market to western investments including to France. Rao visited France in 1992 and 1995 to get France to invest in India. As a result, French direct investment approvals doubled to $75 million during 1991-1994.

Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued to maintain good relations with France, which was the only major western power not to impose economic sanctions on India after the Pokhran tests. 1998 was the watershed year when Chirac arrived as the R-Day chief guest.

India benefited from Chirac’s ‘Look East Policy’ by which he aimed to strengthen ties with Asian countries; he himself took interest in improving ties with India. During that visit Chirac stressed on the need for a multipolar world in which India would play an important role. India, on its part, has moved away from narrowly stressing on nonalignment to being a part of the multipolar world of which France is a major proponent.

Chirac’s policies were actively followed by Sarkozy whose visit to India was significant with regard to peaceful cooperation in the nuclear energy field.

Sarkozy followed up the 2008 visit with one in 2010 when several agreements were signed, including the $9.3 billion framework agreement for constructing two nuclear reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra to generate 10,000 megawatts of power. But the project ran into protests from environmentalists over safety norms. This is an issue that Hollande can look into during his visit to the country next month.

France is one of the top investors in India. A white paper from industry body Ficci saysFrench establishments continue to grow in India. There are now 1,051 establishments or French entities in India that are linked to 394 major French conglomerates.

French companies in India today employ about 2.5 lakh people in India, have a turnover of more than $20 billion, and a minimum stock investment portfolio of $19 billion, according to Ficci.

French companies have a diverse presence in Indian sectors such as infrastructure, retail, telecom, defence, automobiles, electronics, media and entertainment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said time and again that economic ties between nations must guide bilateral relations. To this end, he had visited France in April this year, where he talked about his Smart Cities project and civilian nuclear partnership, among other issues.

Hollande’s visit to India will no doubt carry forward the aspirations of both nations, and decades-old friendship.

The writer is an assistant professor at Loyola College, Chennai

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