The Hindu : Business : French industry to explore investment opportunities

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Friday, Aug 05, 2005

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Business

French industry to explore investment opportunities

Sushma Ramchandran

Business team from Rhone-Alpes region to arrive in October

NEW DELHI: Indo-French business ties are set to get a boost as a high level business delegation from one of France's most industrialised regions, the Rhone-Alpes is arriving here in October to explore trade and investment opportunities in India. Simultaneously, the region's investment promotion agency, Enterprise Rhone-Alpes International (ERAI), is setting up offices in Bangalore and New Delhi to promote economic cooperation from the region.

Among the companies expected to form part of the delegation are: Bio Merieux, Credit Lyonnais, Sanofi Pasteur, Saint Gobain Vetrotex and SEB as well as several small and medium enterprises.

According to the President of the Rhone-Alpes Regional Council, Jean-Jack Queyranne, French companies are increasingly becoming interested in India.

The proposed visit of the delegation reflects the feeling in the French industry that there has been too much focus on China and the time is ripe to enhance trade and investments with India's growing economy.

He said as many as 250 companies from the Rhone-Alpes, the second largest region in France, were doing business with India, but only ten actually had offices there.

The ERAI has therefore decided to set up an office in New Delhi this month to ensure that other companies, especially small and medium sized ones were able to get assistance to proceed with activities relating to trade and investment.

The newly appointed Managing Director for ERAI in India, Pascal Weber, said one of ERAI's roles was to work as an incubator for start-up companies.

The agency which already has offices in nine countries, will also help French companies to adapt product to meet the needs of the Indian market. The ERAI representatives told Indian journalists in Lyons, the capital of the Rhone-Alpes that the business community in the region felt that forging ties with India was of strategic importance in the long term.

He said the nine worldwide agencies of ERAI had three major missions.

The first is to assist companies developing their export business and building international partnerships, to support foreign companies willing to invest in Rhone-Alpes and to develop on an international level and promote the key clusters of the Rhone -Alpes region.

He stressed that the region, which was equipped with strong infrastructure, had chalked out a long-term roadmap to enable their companies to establish themselves in India while seeking to attracting investment in critical areas like biotechnology.

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