"Future of India is bright..." French business leaders express confidence in Indian growth story

Paris [France], April 12 (ANI): Expressing confidence in the Indian growth story, French business leaders on Tuesday said that the future of India is bright as it shines out among the world's biggest economies, with Europe hovering on the brink of potential recession and US growth slowing.

"India is a great place. It's a democracy. There is a huge demography. The future of India is bright in terms of growth," said Saint Gobain CEO Benoit Bazin to ANI.

"India has been growing very fast, double-digit over the last 25 years and now is the third country in the profit pool of Saint Gobain worldwide. After the US and France, India is now number three. The success of Saint Gobain shows over the last 25 years that you can be profitable and growing. You have a very, very strong pool of talents for R&D, manufacturing, and digital. It's a great place to do business and has fantastic teams. For me, that's the main asset--fantastic teams and demography in India for the next decade," he added.

Saint Gobain CEO Benoit Bazin met with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal while he is in France to chair India-France Business Summit.

"We discussed the plan to multiply by three times in the next ten years. Second, we are advocating for green buildings in India, light and sustainable construction, for good summer comfort, and acoustic, and air quality," he said while speaking to ANI.

On asking what their plans were for green energy in India, Benoit Bazin said that by 2024, Indians will have 60 per cent of renewable electricity and 100 per cent by 2027.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal led the Indian delegation at India-France Business Summit, commemorating 25 years of India-France friendship, on April 11 in Paris.

Goyal and Olivier Becht, France's Minister delegate of Foreign Trade, Attractiveness, and French Nationals Abroad co-chaired the India-France Business Summit. Minister Goyal met with French business leaders across various sectors and attended a CEO's roundtable.

Goyal is on an official visit to France and Italy from April 11 to April 13 during which he would be accompanied by a delegation of top Indian CEOs.

Business leaders speak on how this summit is expected to provide further momentum to bilateral relations with India's key business partners in the European region.

Egis Chief Executive Officer (CFO) Laurent Germain also met Goyal and said that the amount of investments the (Indian) government has forecast for the infrastructure is huge.

"By 2030, we are talking about USD 4.5 trillion. This is probably one of the countries in the world which will invest the most. This is why this is a key focus for Egis because we have all the relevant technologies in order to bring carbon-friendly technologies for the future infrastructure of India," he said while mentioning the number of opportunities India has.

"This is the opportunity to choose the best technologies in terms of carbon-friendly technologies for India to be an example to the world for reaching its target, to be carbon neutral by 2070," he added.

Egis is the French leader in engineering for infrastructure. It is established in India for 27 years. Egis is working with the Metro, Delhi Metro and other state governments.

"Water is a key priority for the government. Egis is involved in the dam, rehabilitation and investment programs all over India. I can testify that the efforts of the government are huge in order to increase the level. The amount of the population with access to drinkable water, and the number of projects is increasing," said Germain.

He said that he discussed the opportunities in India with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal because, with the present rate of growth, India will have this population grow by 200 million by 2040.

Meanwhile, N Sreedhar (Chief Financial Officer, Saint-Gobain) said that the group has invested a lot in India and India.

"In the last eight years, our investment in India has doubled. Twenty-five years ago, there was no Saint Gobain in India and now on this tour, you will see the progress that has been made, the confidence that has been increased even more," said Sreedhar.

"There is so much growth in India, all our solutions are sustainable solutions. We do a lot of work in carbon neutral. They are talking about an investment of six thousand crores in the next five years and everything is of green technology," he added. (ANI)