French companies to invest another $1.4 bn this fiscal

MUMBAI: French companies, which have invested $19 billion in the country, are expected to pump in another $1.4 billion this fiscal, a visiting industry delegation said here today.

"French companies have been investing 1 billion euro each annually here during the past three years in a row and I do see the same trend continuing this year too," Capgemini Chief Executive Paul Hermelin told PTI here.

Hermelin is leading a 28-member French business delegation, specialised in urban infrastructure, to the country in his capacity as Paris' special representative for economic relations with New Delhi.

Addressing the delegation, French Ambassador François Richier said, "French companies are equipped with cutting-edge technology and are here to see if their technology could provide solutions to infra-related challenges in this country".

French companies are looking at investing in areas like transport (metros, tramways, railways and buses), water (water treatment, sewage treatment and monitoring of water distribution), bus-shelters, urban lighting, management of infrastructure projects through private-public partnerships, consultancy, non-conventional energy sources like solar, Richier said.

"We are growing 20 per cent annually here as much as 50,000 of my 1,40,000 staff globally are working here," Hermelin said, adding his company is likely to hire more than 10,000 people in the country during this fiscal.

As many as 400 French firms are already present in the country employing 2,50,000 people.