Italy and India have solid and wide-ranging economic relations focusing on five key sectors as identified in the 2020-2024 Action Plan, adopted during the Virtual Summit between the then Prime Minister Conte, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi, in November 2020: Green Economy, Agri-food industry, infrastructure, digital and manufacturing/lifestyle.
The visit to India in March 2023 of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the raising of relations to strategic partnership has further re-energized economic ties and expanded the sectors of possible cooperation to the sectors of Defense, Aerospace and Cybersecurity.
Exchange and entrepreneurial presence
In 2023, the Italian Export towards India has increased of 7.6 %, exceeding 5.1 billion euros, confirming once again the growth trend of our export towards India, a strategic partner for Italy.
Machinery and equipment keep being the most exported item towards India, touching a 39.9% followed by chemicals and chemical products, basic metals and electronic devices; in regards to Indian export towards Italy, the top positions are held by metallurgy, chemical and textile goods reaching a 27.9%.
The trade exchange between Italy and India has reached in 2023 the value of 14.3 billion Euro, witnessing a slight decrement equal to -3.5% compared to the previous year, due to a lower Italian import from India (9 billion euro) which went down of 8.8%.
There are more than 700 Italian companies in India, with an estimated employment of about 60,000 units with an over all turnover of 9.7 billion euro and forms of presence that vary between: 100% owned subsidiaries, Joint Ventures or representative commercial offices.
The main geographical areas where Italian companies are located are the industrial hubs of Delhi-Gurgaon-Noida (so-called Capital Belt), Mumbai-Pune (Maharashtra), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Bengaluru (Karnataka), where the IT and innovation sector is strongly present. Also noteworthy is the growing attention to the realities of Gujarat and Rajasthan, where more and more frequent Italian establishments are beginning to be registered.
In 2022 the Italian investments in India have reached a stock of 6805 million euro with a growth of around 200 million euro.
Institutional presence in support of companies
One of the institutional tasks of the Embassy is to monitor the performance of the Indian economy and coordinate Italy’s economic promotion activities, with the aim of promoting the growth in trade, investment flows and bilateral scientific and technological cooperation.
For the promotion of the country, the Embassy works in collaboration with representatives of Italian business and coordinates the work of other institutions active in India:
Consulate General in Bengaluru