India and France have agreed to work together on the joint production of defence equipment including helicopters and submarines for the Indian armed forces and production for friendly countries, New Delhi said.

India and France have announced a “defence industrial roadmap” for cooperation on defence production, for future collaboration on “co-design and co-development” of military hardware, as well as key agreements on space cooperation, officials said. The roadmap was part of a number of agreements between the two countries that were sealed during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Jaipur on January 25, that will also bring some parity with the India-U.S. defence production plan finalised last year. 

The deal was reached during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended a state banquet hosted by President Draupadi Murmu, the government said in a statement late on Friday.