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The French community in India consists mainly of Indian citizens of French ancestry who are descended from former French settlers and colonists who settled in the Indian subcontinent since the 17th century, as well as recent expatriates from France.
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| Total population | |
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| 12,864 (1988)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
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| French people |
The French in India are an artifact of the French presence there, which began in 1673 with the establishment of the French East India Company and continued until 1962 when the French territory was formally transferred to India. The French presence was always minor compared with the British presence, and the French in India were generally not a significant portion of the population.
There were 9,950 French nationals residing in India in 2013.[2] Nearly all are in the Puducherry district in southeastern India (11,726 individuals in 1988), with much smaller numbers in Karaikal (695 individuals), Mahé (50), Yanam (46), and 342 elsewhere in India. They form a small minority, accounting for less than 3 percent of the present population of Puducherry.
Indian French (French: français Indien) is a dialectofFrench spoken by Indians from the former colonies of French India;[3] namely Pondicherry (Pondichéry), Mahé, Yanam (Yanaon), Karaikal (Karikal) in the union territoryofPuducherry (Poudouchéry) and the Chandannagar (Chandernagor) subdivision in the stateofWest Bengal. It has considerable influence from English and the regional languages of India, such as the Dravidian languagesofTamil (Pondicherry Tamil dialect), Telugu (Yanam Telugu dialect) and Malayalam (Mahé Malayalam dialect) and the Indo-Aryan languageofBengali in Chandannagar.
There are several varieties of Indian French, corresponding to the former French colonies, as follows:
Indian French spoken in former French India vaguely varies from Standard French, in pronunciation and accent, with a few unique words, such as:
| Indian French | Metropolitan French | Meaning in English |
|---|---|---|
| Mérci beauco | Merci beaucoup | Thank you very much |
| Mousé | Monsieur | Mister/Sir |
| Madam | Madame | Madam/Ma'am |
| Locaele | Locale | Local |
| Perme | Fermer | Close |
| Parlama | Parlement | Parliament |
| Baccaloria | Baccalauréat | Baccalauréat (French secondary school diploma) |
| Sulda | Soldat | Colloquially: Indians with French citizenship Literally: Soldier |
| Coseiyya | Conseiller | Councilor |
Today, Pondicherry still has a community of French people living in the city and French is also an official language. There are 6,500 French people registered in South India, and of these about 5,500 are in Pondicherry.
French companies in India are present in various sectors such as energy, IT, environment, automobiles, traditional manufacturing industries like St Gobain, and engineering. They also have exporters of fish and other seafood, textiles, leather and luxury goods. L’Oréal has a presence in India, and Louis Vuitton has taken a stake in Hidesign in Pondicherry.[4]
The French community in India is a consolidated group, brought together by a number of different organizations that aim to promote French culture in India. The French Club of Bombay is an organization that unites French speakers living in the city. The club meets at different locations in various parts of Mumbai so that meetings are conveniently located and have a good attendance.[5]
In February 2015, the Indo French Senior Citizens Association staged street protests in Pondicherry to protest against denial of the French nationality and voting rights derived from the "treaty of cession" of French India territories, which guaranteed continued French citizenship to individuals whose birth and nativity certificate had been registered during the French India regime.[6]
India
