French President Emmanuel Macron was the guest of honour for Republic Day celebrations in India. He stayed in India for 2 days, visiting Jaipur on January 25 and Delhi on January 26 for Republic Day celebrations. During this visit, India and France signed many agreements and MOUs.
The main sectors in which deals are signed between India and France include defence, science and technology, maritime technology, civil aviation, land warfare, urban development, artificial intelligence, public administration, space exploration, health, underwater domain awareness, robotics, and others.
The main highlights of the deals include:
Operationalization of India’s UPI (Unified Payment Interface) at Eiffel Tower.
India and France agreed on a roadmap for defence industrial cooperation; this is to identify, co-design, co-develop, and co-produce in the areas of the defence industrial sector.
Partnership between TATA Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus to make H125 single-engine helicopters
Joint development and manufacture of advanced military equipment.
Partnership in health and medicine. A declaration of intent was issued between France’s Ministry of Labour, Health, and Solidarity on Cooperation and India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
An agreement was signed between the Department of Science and Technology of India and France’s Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation, and l'environnement (INRAE).
MOU signed between New Space India Limited and France’s Arianespace S.A.S.
According to Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, India and France have agreed to cooperate in areas like clean energy research, satellite launches, and 5-year Schengen visas for Indian students pursuing post-graduation in France. He also informed that both countries decided to call 2026 the India-France 'Year of Innovation' and will come up with a ‘Young Professionals’ scheme for people of the age group 18–35 in both countries. During the Jaipur visit, Modi and Macron discussed the situation in the Red Sea, ongoing cooperation in the IOR (Indian Ocean Region) and the Indo-Pacific region.