In France, around 130 Indian companies have set up their facility; however, startups and MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) from this country lag behind in numbers as they do not have the guide facilitating them with access to European Union, said a French Consulting firm.

WTC Shamshabad & Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI) had hosted a session on Market entry to France for understanding how Indian companies can enter the French market. The event was held on Tuesday in Hyderabad in collaboration with TNP India, a French Consulting firm and World Trade Center Shamshabad. Matthieu Lebeurre, Partner, TNP-Industry, Data Science and Analytics, TNP India and Guillaume Kerbrat, Director Associe-Automotive and New Mobility, TNP Consultants France, spoke about the opportunities available for Indian companies to set up their office or venture into France with their service or product.

“Bharat Biotech from Hyderabad is one of the success stories of the Indian companies present in France. But, we have seen that the number of startups and MSMEs lag behind in getting access to European Union by not being present in France. I would like to specify that for an enterprise serving under B2C, if they enter EU, will have access to 500 million customers with good spending power,” Lebeurre said. Europe is supposed to be the largest consumer market, bigger than that of the US and China, the official claimed.

According to him, enterprises working in the defense sector would have to partner with local companies in France so as to not endure the regulations in place, but companies in sustainability, smart energy, IT, pharma and even food processing will have faster access to the market.