India’s bilateral trade with Italy has seen significant growth in the past year, 2003/04, with the volume of trade hitting a new high of $2.77 billion – an increase of 28% over the previous year. During the first six months of 2004/05 (April-September), bilateral trade grew a further 21%. These figures were announced at the 16th meeting of the Indo-Italian Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation.
The thrust areas of India’s exports to Italy were textiles, including cotton and synthetic yarns and fabrics, knitwear items, readymade garments, leather & leather goods, granite & similar stones, organic & inorganic chemicals, bulk drugs, gems & jewellery, marine products, agricultural and related products, and auto-components.
Italy is currently the fourth largest of India’s trading partners among the EU countries and 12th in the list of countries from which foreign direct investment (FDI) has been approved in India since 1991. Total FDI approved from Italy during the period 1991-2004 (September) is $1.31 billion, about 1.95% of the total FDI approved from all countries. The actual inflow of FDI from Italy is of the order of $448 million which is about 1.83% of the total FDI inflow from all countries. About 1,011 foreign collaborations have been approved with Italian companies.
The top sectors attracting FDI and technology transfer from Italy have been textiles, chemicals, transportation, industrial machinery, food processing, metallurgy, electrical equipment, and drugs and pharmaceuticals.
