'Gujarat a favoured state for investments'

vadodara: "gujarat figures among the 10 favoured states in india for making nvestments. it occupies a prominent place in terms of business partnerships," said bernard de montferrand, the ambassador of france to india, here on saturday. he was in city for an informal interaction with the confederation of indian industry (cii). "french companies are interested in water-related projects.we are also interested in the public services sector, where we can join hands with our local partners and do business," montferrand said while explaining the 19th century france model of ''delegation of public services to private companies'', where despite private participation the power still remains vested in the local public. he said public services also cover industries like power, infrastructure and telecom, where the state is already playing a role here. "we are ready to be an active partner in these businesses besides other areas like software, food processing and textiles," he said mentioning chief minister narendra modi''s recent presentation in delhi. "i am here to convey that we are definitely interested. on the contrary, i sincerely urge industries here to ''think france''," he said. quoting india''s growth rate of five per cent and its ongoing bilateral trade relations with france as a healthy trend, montferrand said "india and france could do much more in the economic field." "the budgetary and economic policies put in place in europe and particularly in france are dynamic. in the coming years, investments in india will be favoured. already some of our best companies including gas de france are in india. gujarat being a progressive state is definitely among the top states reckoned for investments," he said. making special reference to agricultural produce, montferrand said india is a leading country in terms of agricultural produce, while france is the market leader in food processing technology. "i don''t understand why we can''t work together in this field," he said. montferrand, however, insisted that further bilateral trade relations between the two countries cannot come only through free market practices, but through a holistic policy with exchange and co-operation on culture, health and the environment front. "we need to interact more in these areas. even tourism is a sector where we can provide you with vital inputs to develop a robust tourism industry," he said mentioning that france, which has population of 61 million, receives 75 million tourists every year. he considered the existence of french banks on indian soil as an additional advantage. "they know the economic network and are conveying to their clients back in france what india holds in terms of business potential," he said. talking about france''s willingness in making investments in textile and fashion industry montferrand said, "we have the best designers and you have the best manufacturing capacities." earlier, ex-chairman of cii gujarat council ramesh wadhwani bluntly conveyed industrialists'' feelings by saying that "france was not looking at india very aggressively". "china is still a favoured investment ground for france despite the fact that returns on investment there are not high," wadhwani said.