NEW DELHI, Dec 6: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he had clinched deals worth about $20 billion with India, including nuclear contracts of $9.3 billion, becoming the latest among a string of world leaders jostling for a share of Asia's third biggest economy.

The business deals, which spanned atomic energy, defence and civil aviation, comfortably bettered $10 billion US President Barack Obama secured on his November visit. They come a day before Mr Sarkozy is due to end his four-day visit.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are also due to visit India this month, a sign of how major powers are vying for the world's biggest new defence and power markets, long closed to outside investors.

India is trying to boost its power generation capability and defence, wary it is falling behind China.

Mr Sarkozy also called for a joint proposal with India to push his ambitious reform agenda for the Group-20 of developed and emerging nations, including changes to the global monetary system and commodity markets.

“France considers that no big-item problem in the world can be solved without India participating at the highest level. India is a major economy, we came to visit India as a partner,” Mr Sarkozy told a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India, a member of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of rapidly developing countries, is forecast to see economic growth of almost 9 per cent this year, with the economy accelerating further in following years, levels rivalled only by China and not the US and other western countries.

But like every foreign investor, the French must negotiate a series of regulatory problems and Indian politics.

The Manmohan Singh government is currently mired in a string of corruption scandals that have tarnished India's image as an investment destination.

France and India signed a framework contract for the sale of at least two French atomic reactors by French nuclear group Areva, estimated at around 7 billion euros ($9.3 billion). Work on the reactors will start next year. France is competing with US and Russian firms for a slice of India's civilian nuclear energy market, worth an estimated $150 billion, after New Delhi signed a series of civilian nuclear deals that ended its status as a nuclear pariah.—Reuters