Addressing India’s growing importance in the global business scenario, Britain and France have expressed their support for India to become a member of the United Nations Security Council and showed an interest in strengthening trade ties between the countries. On the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Toronto, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh invited French President Nicolas Sarkozy to visit India.

Incidentally, bilateral trade between India and France is expected to touch US$12 billion by 2012. A major portion of India’s exports to France comes from SME-dominated sectors such as textiles, handicrafts, agro products, auto parts and leather products, among others.

France also happens to be one of the biggest markets for Indian handicrafts, which has a large concentration of MSMEs. With bilateral trade ties likely to improve further between the two countries, it is expected that small exporters in this sector as well as other segments that ship consignments to France will get a huge boost to their business. Considering that a rise in exports to France can directly translate to increased revenues for Indian SMEs, by way of either direct trade or sub-contracting, a step-up in India’s trade ties with France certainly augurs well for small domestic firms.