India-France Strategic Partnership to drive next phase of innovation-led growth: FM Sitharaman

Paris/New Delhi: 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.