PM Modi asks French business leaders to tap opportunities in India

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted the ongoing economic reforms in India and urged the French business leaders to harness opportunities that the country offers.

He said this while addressing the India-France CEO forum along with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Forum consisted of 16 CEOs from the French side and 24 from the Indian side in diverse sectors, including aviation, manufacturing, defence, technology, and energy, among others, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

Guillaume Faury, Airbus; Henri Poupart Lafarge, Alstom; Peter Herweck, Schneider Electric; Namita Shah, Total Energies; Philippe Errera; Safran and Paul Hermelin, Capgemini were among the prominent French business leaders who attended the forum.

Hari S Bhartia, Jubilant Life Sciences Limited; Lakshmi Mittal; Arcelor Mittal, Tarun Mehta, Ather Energy and Amit B Kalyani, Bharat Forge were among the business leaders on the Indian side.

"President @EmmanuelMacron and I met top CEOs to discuss ways to diversify business cooperation. I highlighted the reforms in India and urged entrepreneurs to harness the many opportunities our nation offers," the Prime Minister said in a tweet.

Prime Minister acknowledged the role played by these industry leaders in strengthening bilateral relations and promoting economic cooperation between India and France, the MEA statement said.

He highlighted India's progress in renewables, startups, pharma, IT, digital payments and infrastructure and the various initiatives undertaken to foster business, it said.

Prime Minister encouraged the CEOs to utilize the investment opportunities in India and be a part of India's growth story, it added.

"The Prime Minister highlighted India's mission-mode reform journey and various initiatives undertaken to boost the business environment such as the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme etc," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) tweeted.

Modi also exhorted the business leaders of India and France to work towards accelerating the journey of friendship between the two countries.

The business community of the nations has contributed a lot in strengthening bilateral ties, he said in his address.

"I would like you to work for accelerating and strengthening this great journey of the two nations," he said while committing to extend full support to them in their endeavour on behalf of Indian and French leadership.

Observing that India and France have completed 25 years of strategic partnership, Modi said the business leaders of the two countries have played a big role in the long journey.

"We are celebrating 25 years of strategic partnership. In this journey, the business leaders have played a big role," Modi said.

The Indian government during the last nine years of the NDA rule have taken several initiatives to improve ease of doing business. These include relaxing FDI norms, encouraging manufacturing through Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and reducing corporate tax.

Prime Minister Modi is Paris on a two-day official visit at the invitation of French President Macron.

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