France Offers India €1bn Credit Line for Infrastructure Projects

France has offered India a €1bn credit line to finance sustainable infrastructure and urban development projects, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said during a meeting in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The credit line will be available over three years and will be delivered through the French Development Agency.

Fabius is also expected to discuss the awarding of defence deals during his India visit, such as New Delhi's $20bn (£11.67bn, €14.61bn) order for Dassault Rafale jets that stalled under the previous government.

During the meeting, Modi sought French involvement in areas such as low-cost defence manufacturing, according to a statement from the Indian government. Modi received a formal invitation to France from Fabius.

"If you don't have the share of technology and the share of finance, you can develop brilliant ideas, may be brilliant, but (you will have) nothing concrete," Fabius said at an event about sustainable growth and climate change, Reuters reported.

India has said it needs $1tn in investment by 2017 to upgrade its infrastructure and is eager to attract foreign interest to help fund the development of new ports, railroads and cities.

Japan is already a key investor in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, a mega infrastructure project comprising dozens of new industrial zones and cities alongside a 1,483-kilometre highway stretching between India's two biggest cities.