Catherine Suard, Consul-General of France, said here on Sunday that France and India shared strong ties that go back well in time and this was reflected in the numerous and continuous investments that had been made in the field of technology and innovation.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Puducherry chapter of Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITPRO) here, Ms. Suard said that Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Spatial research agency, CNES, had a partnership of several decades and French companies in India employed more than two lakh people in the Information Technology sector.
“Our large groups are well present and represented in India. Capgemini, which arrived in 2001, today employs about 1,06,000 people and plans to strengthen its workforce by another 27,000 in 2019. France has been innovating in India and a number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are building teams who are working not only on projects for India but also for the world,” she added.
Home for start-ups
Ms. Suard said young individuals and entrepreneurs had chosen India as their home to create their start-ups that offer very dynamic and innovative services. These entrepreneurs were based in all cities in India and several of them had chosen Puducherry as their base.
“We believe in partnerships between countries and we also very strongly believe in partnerships between companies. The launch of AITPRO would bring together entrepreneurs, companies and multiple nationalities,” she said.
Damien Berville, founder and chief operating officer of AITPRO, said the aim of AITPRO was to represent the technology community in India. The idea was to create a platform for the technology community to network, collaborate and to create growth opportunities for members through various initiatives.
AITPRO was represented by individuals such as IT professionals, independent contractors, freelancers, students and companies from the IT and the ITES sector, Mr. Berville added.
Published - December 17, 2018 12:56 am IST
