Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state guest of United States of America  from 20th – 24th June 2023. The visit showcased India’s cultural heritage, diplomatic prowess and its growing influence on the world stage. The bilateral meeting between the two sides brought out several strategic outcomes for India ranging from emerging technologies, space, energy and defence.

20-24 June 2023: USA

Now within a month, he would  embark on a state visit to France from July 14-16 to boost economic and defence cooperation between India and France and bolster strategic ties between European Union and India. It would also mark the 25 years of strategic partnership between France and India.

PM Modi has been invited as the Guest of Honour for France’s National Day, the Bastille Day parade in Paris. With this, PM Modi will be the second Indian PM to get a red-carpet welcome at the Bastille Day parade after Dr Manmohan Singh in 2009. This date commemorates both the storming of the Bastille on the 14th July 1789, which ended absolute rule during French Revolution , and the Festival of the Federation of the 14th July 1790.

 Soldiers from the Punjab Regiment are set to march in Paris in the Bastille Day Parade after 107 years. There is evidence from the First World War of the contribution of Indian soldiers, from the Sikh Regiment, fighting alongside French forces. 

269 members of trie-services  contingent of Army, Navy, Air Force and military band are part of the parade. Rafale fighter jets will also form part of the flypast.

One of the key highlights of this visit is the deals worth over Rs 90,000 crore to buy 26 Rafale M aircraft and three additional Scorpene submarines. The multi-crore defence deals which will be signed and announced during the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit. This would be a government-to-government contract.

 The Defence Procurement Board has cleared these two big ticket deals and approval has also been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as reported. The final price will be determined after officials from both sides sit together to negotiate the commercial contract. Such a mechanism was put in place during the IAF’s 36 Rafale deal of 2016.

26 Rafale- M Aircraft

The IAF operates 36 Rafale jets customised for Indian requirements under a €7.87 billion deal signed in April 2016. All these have been delivered in record time to boost up our depleting fighter squadrons and proving as game changer at Northern and Western boarders against our adversaries.

The Indian Navy shall now be getting 26 deck-based fighter jets, the Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and French aerospace major Dassault Aviation’s Rafale-M aircraft for the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant under the proposed deal.  22  of these fighter jets would be single seaters and four double seater trainer versions.  INS Vikramaditya and Vikrant have been operating the MiG-29s so far and need the Rafales to increase its operational capabilities.

Additional Scorpene submarines

The Indian Navy  has 16 conventional submarines in service, seven Kilo-class, four HDW submarines and five French Scorpene class submarines. Of these, the Kilo and HDW are ageing and the Navy for time being has extended their life as an interim measure.

Project-75 , under which Six Scorpene Submarines  have been built in India at Mazgaon dock in collaboration with French Major Naval Group (earlier DCNS) by technology transfer at a cost of $ 3.75 Bn deal signed in October 2005. Five of these  submarines have entered the service while the sixth one is undergoing trial. The deal to manufacture three more Scorpene submarines would be through repeat order clause. 

Another long-awaited military deal on which both sides were working is to make helicopter engines in India with 100% technology transfer from the French major Safran.

Bilateral trade between India and France stands at EUR 10.7 billion with more than 1,000 French companies having a total turnover of more $20 billion. 210 Indian companies are operating in France with an investment stock of EUR 1 billion.

France is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with a total FDI contribution of $10,389 million from April 2000-September 2022.

Strategic tie-ups to broaden engagement with Asia and other Western nations to check China’s growing assertive in the Pacific region will also be a part of this visit.