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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged French industry leaders to look at investment opportunities in infrastructure and other segments of the economy and become part of the Indian growth story.

Addressing the India-France CEO forum along with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, Modi highlighted the ongoing economic reforms and the initiatives taken by his government in renewables, startups, pharma, IT, digital payments and infrastructure to foster business.

The Forum consisted of 16 CEOs from the French side and 24 from the Indian side from diverse sectors, including aviation, manufacturing, defence, technology, and energy, among others.

“Prime Minister encouraged the CEOs to utilise the investment opportunities in India and be a part of India’s growth story”, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.

Guillaume Faury, Airbus; Henri Poupart Lafarge, Alstom; Peter Herweck, Schneider Electric; Namita Shah, Total Energies; Philippe Errera, Safran; and Paul Hermelin, Capgemini were among the prominent French business leaders who attended the forum.

Hari S Bhartia, Jubilant Life Sciences Limited; Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal; Tarun Mehta, Ather Energy; and Amit B Kalyani, Bharat Forge were among the business leaders on the Indian side.

The prime minister acknowledged the role played by these industry leaders in strengthening bilateral relations and promoting economic cooperation between India and France.

He highlighted India’s progress in renewables, startups, pharma, IT, digital payments and infrastructure and the various initiatives undertaken to foster business, the release said.

The Indian government during the last nine years of the NDA rule led by Prime Minister Modi has taken several initiatives to improve ease of doing business. These include relaxing FDI norms, encouraging manufacturing through Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and reducing corporate tax.

Prime Minister Modi was on a two-day official visit at the invitation of French President Macron.