Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has extended an invitation to French businesses and investors to deepen their engagement with India, emphasising the opportunities available in artificial intelligence, clean energy, healthcare, digital infrastructure and financial services.

Her remarks were delivered during the India–France Business Roundtable in Paris, where she set the context of a rapidly evolving global economy shaped by technological transformation, supply chain diversification, energy transition and geopolitical developments.

She underlined that the India–France Strategic Partnership is uniquely positioned to drive the next phase of sustainable, resilient and innovation-led growth.

The Ministry of Finance highlighted in a post on X that Sitharaman noted India and France are trusted partners in shaping the global AI ecosystem. She pointed to new opportunities for collaboration in trusted AI, digital infrastructure and next-generation technologies, stressing the importance of aligning both nations’ strengths in these critical areas.

She also drew attention to the strong momentum in bilateral economic engagement, noting that India–France trade has doubled over the past decade. The presence of around 1,000 French companies operating in India was acknowledged as a testament to the depth of economic ties.

Sitharaman emphasised India’s position as a leading digital economy, powered by Digital Public Infrastructure such as Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, ONDC and India Stack. She noted that India accounts for nearly half of the world’s real-time digital payments, underscoring the scale and efficiency of its digital transformation.

She invited investors to explore deeper collaboration across healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, highlighting the complementary strengths of both countries in life sciences, vaccines, active pharmaceutical ingredients, clinical research, precision medicine and digital health. She stressed that such collaboration could help build resilient healthcare value chains.

The Finance Minister also outlined India’s ambitious clean energy transition, including the target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030. She highlighted the National Green Hydrogen Mission and Production Linked Incentive schemes as key drivers of substantial opportunities for investment in renewable energy, green hydrogen, battery storage, offshore wind and smart grids. These initiatives, she explained, are central to India’s strategy to achieve sustainable growth while addressing climate challenges.

Sitharaman drew attention to the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), which has emerged as a leading global financial hub. As of June 2026, it has more than 1,200 registered entities, banking assets worth USD 111 billion and cumulative banking transactions of USD 176 billion.

She noted that expanding opportunities exist across banking, fund management, leasing, Global Capability Centres, reinsurance and sustainable finance. She also highlighted the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which offers long-term investment opportunities through its upcoming USD 3.5 billion Infrastructure Fund II and USD 1 billion Private Markets Fund II. These funds will support infrastructure, digital infrastructure, green hydrogen, energy transition and other high-growth sectors.

In her concluding remarks, Sitharaman invited French businesses and investors to partner with India in its journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047. She emphasised the need to strengthen the India–France Strategic Partnership and work towards shared prosperity for both nations.

According to the Ministry of Finance, participants from leading French financial institutions shared their current business and investment engagement in India. They acknowledged India’s decadal reforms, efforts to reduce the compliance burden and initiatives to facilitate businesses. They also offered suggestions for establishing deeper and more sustainable investment collaboration between the two countries.

Her outreach reflects India’s determination to integrate its economic and technological strengths with global networks, ensuring that both nations can co-develop solutions that address shared challenges while contributing to global prosperity.

ANI