This article covers the economic relationship between India and France: trade figures, French investment in India, Indian companies in France, the dialogues that support business ties, the rollout of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in France, and the innovation and startup links built during the India-France Year of Innovation. It is based on the MEA brief of July 2026.

Trade figures

According to the MEA brief of July 2026, France is India's third-largest trading partner within the European Union, after the Netherlands and Germany. For the year 2025-26, Indian exports to France amounted to Euros 6.1 billion.

The brief states that bilateral trade has more than doubled in the last decade, to Euros 13.6 billion in 2025-26. It adds that trade is expected to grow further with the signing of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement on 27 January 2026.

French investment in India

As of the brief, France is the 11th largest foreign investor in India, with a cumulative investment of over Euros 10 billion from April 2000 to December 2025. This represents 1.55 percent of the total FDI inflows into India over that period.

The brief lists the top five sectors for FDI equity inflows from France as:

  • services sector (17.65 percent)
  • cement and gypsum products (8.37 percent)
  • air transport, including air freight (6.87 percent)
  • miscellaneous industries (6.54 percent)
  • petroleum and natural gas (6.20 percent)

According to the brief, these five sectors represent 45.62% of the total equity inflow from France from April 2000 to December 2025.

Most big French groups have subsidiaries in India. The brief states that 38 of the 40 French CAC 40 companies are present in India, and that around 50-70 SMEs are also present, essentially in the mechanical and pharma-chemical sectors.

Indian companies and joint technology development

The brief states that France considers India an important market for its products, and is looking to increase the number of joint ventures and encourage investments in and from India. Both countries are also moving to jointly develop technologies and integrate existing ones. Several Indian companies, including TCS and L&T Tech Service, have opened innovation centres in France for joint technology development.

Economic and financial dialogues

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, undertook an official visit to France (Paris and Marseille) in July 2026. She co-chaired the India-France Economic and Financial Dialogue in Aix-en-Provence with Mr. Roland Lescure, Minister of Economy, Finance, Industrial, Energy, and Digital Sovereignty of France, and spoke as a panellist at Les Rencontres Economiques d'Aix-en-Provence.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, visited Paris on 1-3 June 2025 for the WTO Ministers gathering on the sidelines of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. He held meetings with the French Minister of Economy Eric Lombard and French Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin. On 3 June 2025 he co-chaired a CEO Forum Small-Group Meeting with Mr. Saint-Martin.

Minister Goyal visited Nice for the Bharat Innovates event on 14-16 June 2026. During that visit he went to Sophia Antipolis to boost India's deep-tech ties with European markets. He then visited Paris on 17-18 June 2026 for the VivaTech Summit 2026.

In the financial sector, the Reserve Bank of India entered into an MoU with Banque de France, the French central bank, in March 2026. It provides for regular high-level dialogues, exchanges of experts and joint projects in areas specific to central banks. Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman, SEBI, visited Paris on 24-26 September 2025 as a speaker at the Financial Stability Engagement Group (FSEG) meeting hosted by AMF, France, on the impact of AI for securities regulators.

Trade promotion events

The brief lists several events routinely held in France to strengthen trade, investment and technology ties, including:

  • promotion of Indian fashion and Indian textiles
  • round-table conferences on opportunities in India's first International Financial Services Centre at GIFT City, Gujarat
  • round-table conferences with CEOs of major French companies in construction, automobile, education, infrastructure, logistics and technology
  • events on UPI and digital infrastructure

Delegations of companies from FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM regularly visit France and hold round-table meetings, seminars and workshops in different sectors with their French counterparts.

UPI in France

During Prime Minister Modi's visit to Paris in July 2023, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and France's Lyra Collect executed an agreement to implement UPI in France and Europe. The payment mechanism went live at the Eiffel Tower, the first merchant in France to accept UPI, during President Macron's visit to India on 26 January 2024.

UPI payments were then launched at Galeries Lafayette on 3 July 2024 and at the La Vallée Village Concierge in 2025. The most recent expansion was in June 2026 at Galeries Lafayette Nice Massena, where Minister Goyal launched the service. As of June 2026, approximately 9,000 successful transactions, amounting to nearly €930,000, had been recorded since UPI's launch in France.

The brief states that efforts are now focused on expanding acceptance across touchpoints relevant to Indian tourists, including airports, retail, pharmacies, restaurants, museums and transport.

Innovation and startups

India and France are celebrating 2026 as the India-France Year of Innovation. The two leaders launched the Indo-French Innovation Network as its flagship initiative. The year features a series of events in both countries in sectors such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital art, defence technology and sustainability.

Bharat Innovates, a flagship programme of India's Ministry of Education, was held under the Year of Innovation in Nice on 14-16 June 2026. The brief reports that it showcased 120 deep-tech startups and 45 Higher Education Institution (HEI) innovations to over 2,000 global participants, facilitated over 1,350 B2B matchmaking sessions, and led to funding commitments of over Euros 220 million. Outcomes included an academic framework linking 12 IITs and IISc with France's UDICE Group, 7 incubator-level MoUs, and an AIM-Dassault Systèmes agreement to launch a School Innovation Lab.

At the VivaTech Summit in June 2026, India had the largest national pavilion, showcasing more than 80 innovators and startups in AI and deep-tech. Under the Station F-HEC Paris International Launchpad programme, ten Indian startups joined a four-month programme at Station F in May 2025. A second cohort of ten Indian startups pitched at the IndiaAI Demo Day at STATION F in Paris on 24 June 2026.

Digital cooperation

India and France have advanced multi-stakeholder exchanges on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) through the InFraStructures (India France Structures) and InFinity (India France Innovation in Information Technology) platforms. Three editions of the InFraStructures workshop were held, in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and a half-day session on DPI for 45 French civil servants was organised in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The two sides have identified potential initiatives in mobility, commerce and culture as initial focus areas.

In January 2026, Minister of State of Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada visited Paris for an AI Impact Summit pre-event and held bilateral interactions with Ms. Anne Le Hénanff, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs. He had earlier visited Paris from 10-13 June 2025 to attend the VivaTech Summit.