Indian Economy News

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's France visit: Closer ties on space and defence

India and France are anticipated to explore a closer relationship in the areas of space, military, emerging technologies, and energy during Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's visit to France next week. PM Mr. Modi will be a guest of honour at the Bastille Day Parade in Paris on July 13 and 14, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the India-France strategic partnership.

Therefore, discussions at bilateral meetings with French President Mr. Emmanuel Macron would touch on both traditional areas of cooperation, like defence, and emerging ones, like space. While the defence, space, and civil nuclear sectors serve as the cornerstones of the strategic alliance, activity on space is exploding.

The National Centre for Space Studies of France and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has formed an Indo-French working group on India's human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan. Discussions about expanding this collaboration are expected. According to sources, the French space agency may be given the opportunity to test critical propulsion technologies used by Gaganyaan.

In 2018, India and France signed important pacts that defined a cooperative vision for space cooperation in many fields of space exploration, and in 2022, they created a bilateral strategic conversation to improve coordination between their space and defence agencies. The first round of this dialogue was held in Paris last month.

Dhruva Space has signed a collaboration agreement with France-based satellite operator and global connection provider Kinéis to construct space and ground infrastructure, while Mumbai-based Manastu Space will assist in the development of propulsion systems for French business Venture Orbital Systems.

A much-anticipated deal between New Delhi and Paris for India to purchase 26 Dassault Rafale-Maritime (M) fighters is widely expected to be the main item on both Modi and Macron's agenda. According to media reports, the French government has given the go-ahead to the country's defence major, Safran, to jointly design, develop, test, manufacture, and finally certify an engine that will power India's twin-engine advanced multi-role combat aircraft and the twin-engine deck-based fighter for Indian aircraft carriers. Safran inked a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics last year to co-develop an engine.

Like the Prime Minister's recent visit to the United States, the planned trip to France will focus on strengthening technological ties, with an emphasis on technology transfer. A combined initiative to create supercomputers in India based on a collaboration between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and the French information technology service and consultancy company ATOS will be examined.

Both countries may also announce collaboration in 5G and 6G telecommunications technologies.

According to the French embassy in New Delhi, more than 600 French subsidiaries with over 1,000 offices and facilities in a variety of sectors are present in India and employ around 400,000 people.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.