French President Francois Hollande wrapped up his two-day trip to India on Friday with a call for more investment and trade between the countries as he met with business leaders.

Hollande, making his first trip to Asia since taking office last year, said that trade between India and France was barely 8.0 billion euros ($11 billion) annually -- far from an objective of 12 billion euros set in 2008.

Indian troops shot dead a Pakistani soldier who had strayed onto their side of the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, officials from both countries said Friday.

"We detected some suspicious movement yesterday near the LoC (Line of Control) inside our territory and the challengers from our side fired and in the ensuing firefight he was killed," Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army's northern command, told Agence France Presse.

French President Francois Hollande embarked on a fresh push Thursday to clinch a $12-billion sale of Rafale fighter jets as he held talks in India on his first visit to Asia since taking office.

The Socialist president was accompanied by a high-powered delegation of five ministers including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and the chiefs of more than 60 top French companies.

Twelve people have been killed, most of them in firing by security forces, after riots erupted in India's restive northeast against local elections an official said on Tuesday.

Soldiers have been deployed in an attempt to subdue the violence that broke out in Goalpara, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Assam state's main city of Guwahati, Bhupen Bora, an Assam state home ministry official, told Agence France Presse.

French President Francois Hollande's visit to India this week is dominated by trade issues, including a $12-billion deal for Rafale fighter jets, nuclear energy and potential tie-ups for new metro lines.

Hollande will be accompanied by five ministers including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The chiefs of more than 60 top French companies will also join him for the two-day trip starting Thursday.

A boy shot by security forces in Indian Kashmir died in hospital Monday, taking the death toll to three during protests at the weekend execution of a local separatist.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim hanged on Saturday after being convicted over a deadly raid on the Indian parliament in 2001, is seen by many in Kashmir as having been framed by police for the crime.

Indian mobile phone firm Reliance Communications (RCom) on Monday announced it has awarded a $1-billion, eight-year contract to Swedish telecom equipment-maker Ericsson to run some of its networks.

Ericsson will manage the daily operations of RCom's wireline and wireless networks in northern and western India, the companies said in a joint statement.

Guards in western India have foiled an attempt by prisoners accused of deadly bombings to tunnel their way out of jail using food plates as tools, officials said on Monday.

Authorities at Sabarmati prison found a six-meter (20-foot) tunnel behind one of the barracks housing 14 men accused of killing 57 people in a series of bombings in Gujarat's main commercial city of Ahmedabad in 2008.

A terrifying stampede at a railway station left at least 36 people dead after the main day of India's Kumbh Mela religious festival, which drew record crowds of 30 million, officials said Monday.

Dozens more were injured in the crush on Sunday evening at Allahabad, marking a tragic end to the most auspicious day of the 55-day Hindu festival in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the world's largest gathering of humanity.

At least 20 people died in a stampede on Sunday, according to reports, as pilgrims headed home from India's giant Kumbh Mela festival which drew a record 30 million people to the banks of the river Ganges.

A senior police officer confirmed that 20 had been killed and scores injured in the stampede at Allahabad railway station, the Press Trust of India news agency said late Sunday night.