India and France sign major defence agreements

India and France
announced on Friday a series of agreements to deepen their defence cooperation,
involving agreements for three submarines for the Indian Navy and a development
of aircraft and helicopter engines, as well as plans to implement the Unified
Payment Interface (UPI) system in Europe beginning in September.

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Both nations also
agreed to establish a partnership to construct low and medium power modular
nuclear reactors and adopted a new Indo-Pacific Roadmap to advance the rule of
international law and protect their economic and security interests. Following
discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron
in Paris, these developments occurred.

Defence cooperation is
a key part of the relationship between India and France, and Modi said that the
two countries should work together to make military platforms that not only
meet their own needs but also those of friendly third countries. He said this
during a joint press conference with Macron before their official talks.

Security cooperation,
including co-development of defence hardware, space-based maritime domain
awareness, and joint measures to ensure peace and stability in the
Indo-Pacific, was a central theme of Modi’s speech. In addition, he outlined
several measures intended at advancing bilateral relations to the next level,
including a road map for the strategic partnership’s next 25 years.

After the achievement
of the Scorpene submarine construction programme or P75, state-owned Mazagon
Dockyard Ltd and France’s Naval Group inked a memorandum of understanding for
the development of three additional Scorpene submarines.

A joint document called
“Horizon 2047” says that after France sends 36 Rafale fighter planes
to India, the two countries will continue to work together on advanced
aeronautical technologies by helping to create a fighter plane engine together.
By the end of the year, Safran in France and the Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) in India will have made a plan for this
project.

The two countries will
work together to help Safran, a French company, build an engine for India’s
multi-role helicopter project. For the creation of the engine, Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran Helicopter Engine came to an agreement on
who owns what shares.

Safran Helicopter Engine
and HAL have resolved to collaborate on the development of the forging and
casting processes for the Shakti engine. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
Engineers Ltd and France’s Naval Group have agreed to sign a new memorandum of
understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a surface ship that will meet the needs
of the Indian Navy and other navies.

UPI has been brought to
France and Europe thanks to a partnership reached last week between Lyra
Collect of France and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) of India.
According to the report, the launch of the payment system is scheduled for
September. The iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris will be the country’s first
establishment to accept UPI.

In the civil nuclear
field, he said, the two sides will talk about how they might work together on
small and advanced modular nuclear plants.

People thought that the
two countries would say something about India buying 26 Rafale Marine fighter
jets, but nothing public had been said about this. Thursday, India’s defence
acquisition council (DAC) gave the Indian Navy the green light to buy the jets
and subs from France.

Before Modi spoke,
Macron talked about the part Indian soldiers played in past wars and in
Friday’s Bastille Day Parade, where Modi was the guest of honour. He said that
the two sides’ armed forces are in close touch and that both sides are working
to keep peace and security and make sure international laws are followed,
including in the Indo-Pacific.

Macron said that India
and France’s work on green energy and getting rid of plastics are just two
examples of how they can work together to make progress in many areas. India is
France’s second biggest trade partner in Asia, and the two countries are also
looking into new areas in steel, space, energy, civil nuclear cooperation, and
technology, he said.

Modi said that the
participation of an Indian tri-services group in the Bastille Day Parade was a
“splendid picture” of how much the two countries are working
together. At a time when the two countries are celebrating 25 years of their
strategic relationship, he said, this can be used as a solid basis for making a
plan for the next 25 years in which they can set big, bold goals.

Modi said that the
participation of an Indian tri-services group in the Bastille Day Parade was a
“splendid picture” of how much the two countries are working
together. At a time when the two countries are celebrating 25 years of their
strategic relationship, he said, this can be used as a solid basis for making a
plan for the next 25 years in which they can set big, bold goals.

 He was happy that Indian Oil and the French
company Total had signed another long-term deal for the sale of LNG. He said
that this would help the country reach its goals for switching to clean energy.

As big countries that
live in the Indo-Pacific, India and France have a special role to play in
keeping the area peaceful and stable. To make their plans for working together
in this area more clearly, he said, both countries are working on a
“Indo-Pacific cooperation roadmap.” 

The two sides are talking about a
plan for an Indo-Pacific Triangle development cooperation fund, which will help
new businesses and ideas get off the ground.

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