Eurozone crisis hits India-France bilateral trade

The crisis in the euro zone has hit Indo-French bilateral trade and, according to French ambassador to India François Richier, achievement of the $12 billion target (trade) would be difficult this year.

The French government is trying to bring some budgetary reforms to cut budget deficits to bring back growth, the ambassador said.

He said bilateral trade last year was also not as high as expected but, he said, Europe was in deep economic crisis and France was trying to get out of it (crisis) through economic measures and coordinated European measures, which would boost trade with the rest of the world, including India.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of a joint facility by naval defence equipment major DCNS and Hyderabad-based defence equipment maker SEC Industries.

The latest report from the French embassy shows that the volume of bilateral trade between France and India slowed down in 2011 (5.8 per cent at € 7.46 billion), as French exports were up to € 2.77 billion (a drop of 4.5 per cent as against 2010) and French imports at € 4.69 billion (12.9 per cent).

France's bilateral trade deficit was growing and stood at € 1.92 billion and the fall in French exports was mainly due to the postponement of aircraft delivery. Imports from India had been rising steadily over the past decade, the report added.