A Quick Look At Top French Companies Operating In India

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France to boost trade and bilateral relations, we take a look at some of the important French companies already operating in India. In fact, most big French groups have their subsidiaries in India.

There are also a few joint ventures and liaison offices of French companies in India. 39 of the 40 CAC 40 (French Stock Market Index) companies are present in India. Around 50-70 SMEs are also present in India essentially in the mechanical and pharma-chemical sectors.

Name of the companies	Sector
BNP Paribas, Capgemini, Havas, Sodexo	Services
Arkema, L'Oréal, Sanofi, TotalEnergies	Pharmaceutical-chemical
Airbus, Dassault, Eurocopter, Safran, Thales	Aerospace
Bongrain, Danone, Lactalis, Lesaffre, Pernod Ricard	Agro-food
Crouzet, Oberthur, Safran, STMicroelectronics, Thales	Electronics
Alstom, Cermex, Legris Group, Poclain, Sidel	Construction mechanics
Hager, Legrand, Schneider Electric	Electrical components
Faurecia, Michelin, Plastic Omnium, Renault, Valeo	Automobile

According to the estimates from the French Embassy in India, French companies employ around 300,000 persons in India and have a turnover of more than $20 billion and have a minimum stock investment portfolio of $19 billion.

French investments in India

France has emerged as a major source of FDI for India with more than 1,000 French establishments already present in India. France is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of $10.49 billion from April 2000 to December 2022 which represents 1.68% of the total FDI inflows into India according to statistics provided by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The highest FDI equity inflows are in the services sector (18.05%), with cement & gypsum products (9.29%) in the second place, followed by air transport (including air freight) (7.59%), miscellaneous industries (7.24%) and petroleum & natural gas (7.10%).