French Ambassador to India, François Richier has said that the continuing debt crisis in the Eurozone has affected the growth of trade between his country and India.

He said that the crisis has affected business and achieving the set target of $12 billion in bilateral trade this year would be difficult. He also said that the new French government is taking steps to reduce the budget deficit and boost the economic growth in the country.

"It is true that last year it was not as high as we expected. Europe is undergoing deep economic crisis. We are trying to get out of it through economic measures and coordinated European measures which will boost the trade with the rest of the world including India,: the ambassador said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of a joint facility by DCNS, which is a leading naval defense firm and SEC Industries, a defense equipment maker. According to a new report by the French Embassy, the volume of bilateral trade between France and India slowed to 5.8 per cent at _ 7.46 billion.

Exports from France rose to _ 2.77 billion while French imports from Indian slowed to 12.9 per cent _ 4.69 billion.

France is facing a trade deficit with India at _ 1.92 billion. The report noted that the French exports fell due to delay in delivery of aircrafts and also said that the Indian exports to the country have been rising over the years