France eye's on solar power, urban development sectors in Jharkhand

In a bid to augment investment in India, leading European Union member France, is scouting for ideal locations in the eastern part of the country that lacks effective presence of the French companies, so far. The country that has invested around $173 million in India, till the second quarter of the current financial year ending March 31, 2014, is keen to enhance its presence across sectors in the eastern and northeastern states.

"We are keen to invest in solar power generation, urban development and automobile sector," said Fabrice Etienne, consul general of France, here on Monday. Interacting with the Confederation of India Industry (CII), Jharkhand chapter, members at Center for Excellence, the consul general said Jharkhand holds enough potential for the French companies vis-a-vis investment. He said banned extremist outfit, CPI (Maoist) threat to investment proposals and security scenario in general is an issue for the potential French investors.

"In my meeting with the state chief secretary on Tuesday, security will be on the agenda," said Etienne, talking to reporters following the interactive session. Explaining further, he said he is on a fact-finding job and his assignment is precisely to gather wide information about the socio-economic and political climate of the state.

"I am not here with any concrete investment proposal, but my job is to discover the ground reality so that further discussions in that direction can get underway," said Etienne, who is on a maiden visit to Jharkhand. He also announced opening an Indo-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry centre in Kolkata to regulate bilateral business proposals of the eastern states. Underscoring the significance France attaches to quality education and art and culture, the consul general informed that this apart XLRI School of Business and Human Resources dialogue with BIT-Mesra is on to ensure academic exchange programmes between the two countries.

Maintaining that Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra, which is a $9.3 billion project, is the biggest investment France has made so far in India, Etienne said civil nuclear power projects could be taken up in the eastern part of India if sound proposals come through.S K Behera, CII Jharkhand Council chairman, accompanied the consul general to the interaction session with the entrepreneurs.

Source TOI