India-Italy Bilateral Relations

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INDIA-ITALY BILATERAL RELATIONS

         India and Italy are ancient civilizations with rich cultural heritage. Italian port cities were important trading posts on the ancient spice route. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo, during his travels to the east, travelled to India in the 13th century and wrote about his experiences. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited Italy in May-June 1926. Mahatma Gandhi visited Rome in December 1931 on his way back to India from the Round Table Conference in London. Indian troops, serving with the British Indian Army, were deployed in Italy during World War II, fighting against the Germans and Mussolini’s forces.

  1. Diplomatic relations with Italy were established in 1947. In 2023, both countries celebrated the 75thanniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations.The two countries enjoy a strong people-to-people connect with a large Indian diaspora. There is a long standing tradition of Indological Studies in Italy.  The list of high level VVIP visits exchanged from 2023 to April, 2025 is at Annexure I.

POLITICAL RELATIONS

  1. InOctober 2021, Prime Minister visited Italy to attend the G20 Summit in Rome. He met the then Italian Prime Minister Mario
  1. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s first state visit after after she was elected was to India in March 2023. She was also Chief Guest at Raisina Dialogue.
  1. PM Meloni participated in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi in September, 2023. During the G20 Summit, Italy joined two key initiatives launched by India – India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA).
  2. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the G7 Summit in Puglia, Italy on 14 June 2024 and had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Meloni. A Letter of Intent for cooperation in Energy Transition and an MoU on Industrial Property Rights were signed. An ICCR chair in the University of Milan was announced.
  1. Prime Minister Modi met PM Meloni on 18 November 2024 on sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. They announced the Joint Strategic Plan of Action 2025-29 as a roadmap for bilateral cooperation through co-production, innovation, R&D, mobility and business collaborations.
  2. Italy joined several India-led several India led plurilateral initiatives such as International Solar Alliance (ISA), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).

G7 Meetings in Italy (2024):

India participated in several G7 meetings in Italy in 2024. The details of the meetings are below:

  1. G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting:EAM Dr S. Jaishankar visited Italy in November, 2024 to attend G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting. He met Foreign Ministers  from  Italy, US, Japan, UK, France, Ukraine and South Korea on the sidelines. During his meeting with  Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, he highlighted fertilizers, railways, food processing and green technologies as priority areas for collaboration.
  1. G7 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting:Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal visited Reggio Calabria, Italy in July, 2024 to participate in the G7 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting. He met Mr. Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy.
  1. G7 tourism Ministers Meeting:Shri Suresh Gopi, Minister of State (MoS) visited Italy for G7 tourism Ministers Meeting and had bilateral meeting with Tourism Minister of Italy, Ms. Daniela Santanchè in November, 2024.
  1. G7 Culture Ministers Meeting: Shri Arunish Chawla, Secretary (Culture) visited Naples, Italy from 19 to 22 September to participate in the G7 Culture Ministers Meeting.  He met Italy’s Minister of Culture Mr. Alessandro Giuli.
  1. G7 Ministerial Meeting on Industry & Tech Innovation: Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary (MEITY) visited Rome  in October, 2024 for the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Industry & Tech Innovation. He met President of Almaviva Group and the CEO of Engineering  Informatica, leading Italian companies in the field of IT, software and cybersecurity.
  1. G7 Health Ministers Meeting: Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary (Health) visited Ancona, Italy for G7 Health Ministers Meeting in October, 2024 and had a bilateral meeting with the Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci.

Political Consultations

  1. In April 2023, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani participated in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi.
  1. External Affairs Minister (EAM), Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Italy from 02-03 November 2023. An Agreement on Migration and Mobility, and the Executive Programme on Cultural Cooperation for 2023-27 were signed.
  1. During visit to Italy for  G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Fiuggi  from 24-27 November, 2024, EAM S. Jaishankar participated in the MED Dialogue (Mediterranean Dialogue) and inaugurated the new chancery building of the Embassy in Rome.
  1. Undersecretary of State of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Maria Tripodi visited Delhi on 17thFeb 2025 and held some bilateral meetings.
  1. Finance Minister visited Italy to participate in the annual ADB meeting in Milan, 04-06 May 2025. She met her Italian counterpart, addressed Italian CEOs and Indian community.
  1. CIM visited Brescia, Italy for the 22nd India-Italy Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) on 4-5 June 2025. He was accompanied by 80 Indian companies. The second Business Forum was held on 5 June in Brescia, Italy. Around 800 Italian companies  participated.
  1. President of Italian Senate, Mr. Ignazio La Russa and President of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Lorenzo Fontana participated in the Parliamentary Speakers’ (P20) Summit from 13-14 October, 2023  in New Delhi.
  1. The India-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group led by Senator Guilio Terzi, has 22 members. Senator Terzi participated in Raisina Dialogue in Delhi in February 2024.
  1. The All-party delegation led by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, visited Italy from 27-29 May, 2025. The Indian delegation which included eight parliamentarians and strategic experts conveyed Bharat’s perspective and approach to cross-border terrorism, in the context of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. The delegation had focussed meetings with several parliamentarians including Presidents of Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, Ms. Maria Tripodi, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (MoS equivalent) and members of India-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group led by Senator Giulio Terzi. They also interacted with think-tanks, news agencies, journalists and met a cross section of Indian community.
  1. The last Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Rome in February 2022 wasco-chaired by Secretary (West).

 

ECONOMIC RELATIONS

  1. Italy is India’s 4th largest trading partner in the EU. Bilateral trade in 2024-25 reached US$ 13.76 billion with our exports at US$ 7.73 billion.

FDI Inflows

  1. Italy ranks 19th in terms of FDI inflows into India during April 2000 to March 2025 which stand at US $ 3.61 bn (Source: DGFT). The top sectors attracting FDI are: Automobile (29.8%), Trading (17.1%), Industrial Machinery (5.6%), Services (5.1%), Electrical Equipment (4.6%). The total Indian investments to Italy amount to Euro 360 million.

 

Bilateral Trade in Goods

(2021-2025)

(Values in US$ billion)

Year

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

2024-25

India’s exports to Italy

8.18

8.69

8.77

7.73

India’s imports from Italy

5.05

5.56

5.80

6.03

Total Trade

13.23

14.25

14.57

13.76

Trade Balance

3.13

3.13

2.97

1.70

 

  1. Services Trade- In 2023 Italy imported services from India worth Euro 489.14 million (+49.96% over 2022). Italy exported to India services worth Euro 654.98 million (+52.75%) i.e. 0.48% of global Italian exports of services.

(Data: Central bank of Italy)

  1. The provisional service trade data for year 2024 is as follows:

Italy's exports of services to India: Euro 0.71 billion

Italy's imports of services from India: Euro 0.53 billion

  1. Indian companies in Italy are mainly in IT, electronics and engineering sectors: Titagarh Industries, TCS, Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Zydus Cadila, Himatsingka Seide, Varroc Group, Endurance Technologies, Gammon, Aditya Birla, Sun Pharma etc. Around 600 Italian companies are present in India, representing sectors such as fashion and garments, textiles and textile machinery, automotive and automotive components, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, confectionery, insurance, etc.
  1. Minister of State for Textiles and Railways (MoSTR), Smt Darshana Jardosh, visited Italy in June 2023 to participate in Integrated Textile and Garment Manufacturing Value Chain (ITMA) 2023 alongwith a business delegation.
  1. Joint Working Group on Food Processing, 2ndJWG on Renewable Energy and Agriculture met in 2023. The next meeting is due to be held in 2025.
  1. Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Mr. Adolfo Urso visited India from 29 November 2024 to 2 December, 2024 to mark the arrival of Italian Navy Ship, ITS Amerigo Vespucci, at Mumbai Port. He met the Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, MoS for Space, Minister of Coal and Mines and Commerce Minister.
  1. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Antonio Tajani visited India on April 11-12, 2025. He was accompanied by Minister of University and Research Ms. Anna Maria Bernini, and 100 Italian companies, Rectors of six universities and heads of six research institutions. In New Delhi, Minister Tajani called on President, met EAM and co-chaired the inaugural India-Italy Business, Science and Technology Forum with EAM and CIM.
  1. Outcomes of the inaugural Business Forum:
  • Announcement of € 470 million in new Italian investments in India since January 2025.
  • Opening of a SIMEST (Italian agency supporting Italian SMEs to internationalize) office in Delhi, with a dedicated € 500 million funding line
  • Additional € 200 million support for Italian companies by SACE (Italian export credit agency)
  • An Italian innovation and start-up centre to be set up in Bengaluru.
  • MoU to promote and facilitate bilateral investments signed between Invest India, SIMEST and Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).

 

DEFENCE

  1. Indian Army has a unique historical connect with Italy. It played a significant role in advances of the allied forces for the liberation of Italy in the Second World War. Out of the 20 Victoria Crosses awarded for the Italian Campaign, six were to Indians. 5,782 Indian soldiers were killed in action. They are honored in 40 Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries spread all over Italy.
  1. The defence relationship has expanded to dialogue, service to service interactions, training, export of defence equipment, sharing information, port calls, naval exercises, maritime security, etc.
  1. Raksha Mantri (RM) visited Italy in October, 2023 for bilateral discussions with his counterpart Mr. Guido Crosetto. An MoU on defence cooperation was signed. RM interacted with CEOs of Italian companies and paid tributes at Naik Yashwant Ghadge Memorial in Montone.
  1. Gen Luciano Portolano, Secretary General of Defence visited India from 11-15 March 2024 to co-chair with Defence Secretary the 10th Joint Defence Committee (JDC) and Military Cooperation Group (MCG)meetings in New Delhi.
  1. 11th India-Italy JDC meeting was held in Rome from 14-16 April 2025 co-chaired by Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Defence Secretary and Dr Luisa Riccardi, Deputy National Armaments Director, alongwith Italian delegates. An MoU between Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and the Federation of Italian Companies for Aerospace, Defence and Security (AIAD) was signed, paving way for bilateral defence industrial cooperation. Some B2B meetings were held between the respective defence industries.
  1. The Italian Navy Ship (ITS Morosini) made a port call in Mumbai in August, 2023. Indian Navy Ship INS Sumedha held PASSEX with ITS Morosini off the coast of Sardinia in April, 2023. Italian Navy also participated in MILAN Naval Exercises in Vishakapatnam in February, 2024.
  1. Italy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) consisting of ItalianAircraft Carrier ITS Cavour made a Port Call in Goa in October, 2024 and held joint exercises with Indian navy. A Defence Industry Forum was held. Italian Offshore Patrol Vessel ITS Vespucci visited in Mumbai from 28 November-02 December, 2024 as part of its tour to the Indo-Pacific and for interactions with Indian military counterparts. The Italian Navy Frigate Antonio Marceglia made a Port Call in Mumbai from 26 May to 1 June 2025.
  1. Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Hon’ble Under Secretary of State for Defence and Lt Gen Lupoli alongwith a defence business delegation visited India to attend Aero India 2025 from 10-12 February, 2025. Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth met Mr Cremnago.
  1. A delegation of Indian Navy War College visited Italy from 02-08 Dec 2024.  The delegation was led by Rear Admiral Arjun Dev Nair, VSM, Commandant of Naval War College and Commodore Muthukrishnan Sankaran, Directing Staff alongwith 18 participants of NHCC-37 Course of Colonel or equivalent ranks.
  1. In March 2025, the 13th India-Italy Military Cooperation Group meeting was held in Rome to review military-to-militay bilateral cooperation and prepare a plan of action for 2025-26.
  1. A delegation from India’s National Defence College, led  by Air Vice Marshal Manish Kumar Gupta, AVSM visited Italy from 08-14 Jun 2025. The delegation visited the Italian Centre for Higher Defence Studies, Centre for Joint Operations & National Armaments Directorate.

Tourism & Connectivity

  1. ITA Airways has direct daily flights from Rome to New Delhi. Spice Jet (Milan-Amritsar) and Air India operate flights between Delhi and Milan. Italian low-cost airline Neos Air operates direct flights from Bergamo to Amritsar thrice a week and Rome to Amritsar once a week. Mission is regularly interacting with local tour operators and Italian tourism promoters to promote tourism to India.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

  1. Department for Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste instituted the DST-ICTP RamanujanPrize in Mathematics for developing countries annually..  Mr. Ruochuan Liu of China was awarded the prize for 2024
  1. Anna Maria Bernini, Minister of University and Research of Italy visited India from 11-12 April, 2025. She met Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences on 11 April. Both sides signed a MoU for cooperation in the field of scientific research and agreed to implement the 2025–2027 Executive Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation, aimed at fostering collaboration in critical technologies like AI and digitalization. 10 Projects for the Exchange of Researchers and 10 Joint Research Projects in blue economy, renewable energy and green hydrogen, quantum technologies, infectious diseases and physics of matter and new materials, were approved for joint funding.

 

Counter Terrorism and Cyber Cooperation:

  1. Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri. Nityanand Rai, participated in the 20thanniversary of the adoption of UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crimes (UNTOC) in Palermo in September, 2023.
  1. The inaugural bilateral Cyber Dialogue on 25 October 2024 in New Delhi discussed cyber threat landscape, national cyber strategies/policies, protection of critical information infrastructure, capacity building and collaborative opportunities in multilateral forums.
  1. 5thJWG on CT was held in Rome on 15-16 January, 2025. It was co-chaired by Mr. Alessandro Azzoni, Director for Security, MoFA and Mr. K.D. Dewal, JS(CT), MEA.

Space:

  1. S.Somanath, Secretary(Space) & Chairman ISRO visited Milan in October 2024 to attend International Astronomical Congress. He met H.E. Mr. Adolfo Urso, Italy’s Minister for Enterprises & Made in Italy. Three MoUs were signed between Indian and Italian space companies for satellite services and ground station solutions. Italian Space Agency ASI participated in IAF Global Conference on Space Exploration (GLEX 2025)  on  7-9 May 2025 in New Delhi.

Cultural Cooperation

  1. An Executive Programme on Cultural Cooperation for  2023-27 was signed in 2023. An ICCR troupe, “Panihari Lok Sangeet” performed Rajasthani folk dances in four cities for the 75th anniversary  of diplomatic relations in July, 2023.
  1. The 10th edition of IDY was celebrated in the iconic Castel Sant Angelo in Rome. IDY celebrations were organized in eight locations across Italy.
  1. India will participate in Venice Art Biennale 2026 from 9 May to  22 November, 2026.
  1. Mahatma Gandhi’s Bust gifted by ICCR was unveiled in Brindisi by Ambassador Vani Rao and Mayor of Brindisi Mr. Giuseppe Marchionna on 7 August 2024. Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated at many locations in Italy in October, 2024. Tagore Jayanti was also celebrated by the Embassy.
  1. Diwali was celebrated in the Senate in 2024 by the Italian Hinduist Union.
  1. The 24th edition of the River to River Indian Film Festival was held in Florence from 5-10 December, 2024.  The  first Indian Film Festival was organised in collaboration with ANICA from 7 to 11 February, 2025 in Rome. In addition, Embassy organised special screenings of Indian films in Matera, Bari, Potenza and Anzio.

 

EDUCATION

  1. The number of Indian university students in Italian Universities stands at 4117 in 2024-25. Most are enrolled in engineering, finance/economics, medicine. Universities with large Indian student population are Politecnico di Milano (Milan); La Sapienza University (Rome); Tor Vergata University (Rome), Politecnico di Torino (Turin).Embassy regularly interacts with the Indian student community.
  1. In Italy, apart from few international private educational institutions in the main cities, schools teach in Italian language and follow local curricula. Recently an Indian national opened a school in Rome, based on the Cambridge Curriculum, targeting students mainly from the Indian subcontinent. Most of the children of Indians staying in Italy are attending local Italian schools - from kindergarten upto XII standard.
  1. There is a long standing tradition of Indology in Italy with several scholars taking keen interest in studying Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, etc. Vishwa Hindi Diwas was celebrated in University of Naples and other Universities in 2024 and 2025.
  1. On 13th September, 2024, the Embassy celebrated Hindi Diwas with participation from the Indian community and international students studying Hindi in Italian schools and Universities.
  1. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India and the
    University of Milan in Italy signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 13
    September 2024, for setting up the first Chair of India in the University of Milan.
    University of Bergamo in Italy signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 13 March 2025 with the Embassy, for setting up the first Chair of India in the University of Bergamo.
  1. On 2 April, 2025, an MoU to set up India Chair at the Luiss University was signed.
  1. During visit to New Delhi from 11-12 April, 2025, Italy’s Minister of University and Research Ms. Anna Maria Bernini met Minister of State for Education Dr Sukanta Majumdar and reaffirmed shared commitment of both nations to higher education and academic cooperation, strengthening the bridge between the two nations and supporting the next generation of scholars, innovators, and professionals.
  1. On 14 June 2025 in Mumbai, the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), Italy's premier design school, signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with India’s Ministry of Education. This agreement marks India’s approval for IED to offer its Bachelor’s degree (DAPL) programmes in India.

 

Indian Diaspora:

  1. The Indian nationals are the seventh largest foreign community in Italy at 1,86,833 in January 2025 (3.25% of the foreign nationals residing in Italy). The Indian diaspora in Italy is the largest in the EU (followed by Germany). In Europe, after the UK, Italy has the largest number of registered Indian immigrants.
  1. Concentration of Indian population in north Italy is higher (60.81%), with mostly residing in Lombardy (31%) and Emilia Romagna (11%) regions. In Cremona, Indians of Punjabi origin are the single largest immigrant group. Central Italy hosts a high Indian population (26%), especially in the Lazio Region (21% of the Indian diaspora). In the South, Campania region hosts 4.5% of the Indian community. Several Indian nationals from Kerala are also residing, mostly in Lazio region.
  1. Milan is home to around 60,000 Indian nationals mainly from Punjab (85%), Haryana (10%) and other regions like Rajasthan etc. A majority are working in agricultural fields, dairy farming and factories. Some are employed as care-givers and nurses. Some started their own business including restaurants, factories, grocery stores and vehicle repair/wash centres. In Milan, approximately 1500 Indians mainly from Maharashtra and South India are working in IT, gems/diamond and restaurant business.
  1. Rome has 22,225 Indian nationals followed by Brescia (15,946) and Latina (14,244).  Several Indian nationals from Kerala are also residing mostly in Lazio region.
  1. There is a large Punjabi community, estimated to be over 70% of the Indian diaspora. There are several temples and nearly 90 Gurdwaras.
  2. Professions in which Indians nationals are involved:

(Source: Italian Ministry of Labour report of 2023 on Indian community)

Profession

% of Indian nationals

Agriculture

36.5%

Industry

32.6%

Business and services

30.9%

 

  1. The Migration and Mobility Agreement (MMA) was signed in November 2023 to facilitate safe and legal migration of seasonal and non-seasonal workers, researchers, professionals and academicians. The first JWG under the MMA was held in Rome on 26-27 June, 2024 co-chaired by Secretary (CPV&OIA) and Director General for Migration and Italians Abroad from the Italian side.
  1. The 2nd India-Italy Consular Dialogue was held in New Delhi on 29 February, 2024.
  1. Secretary (Agriculture) Mr. Devesh Chaturvedi visited Italy in October 2024 and interacted with Indian agricultural workers.

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ANNEXURE-I

Some recent Ministerial visits:

Incoming visits

  1. Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Commerce and Industries Minister, 12-14 April, 2023.
  2. Darshana Jardosh, MoS for Textiles and Railways, 7-11 June, 2023.
  3. Nityananad Rai, MoS for Home Affairs, 29-30 September, 2023.
  4. Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Minister for Defence, 9-10 October, 2023.
  5. S. Jaishankar, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister, 1-2 November, 2023.
  6. PM Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister, 14 June 2024.
  7. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Commerce and Industries Minister, 16-17 July, 2024.
  8. Shri Suresh Gopi,  Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism, 13-15 November 2024.
  9. S. Jaishankar, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister, 24-27 November, 2024.
  10. Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President to Vatican, 25-26 April, 2025
  11. Nirmala Sitharam, Hon’ble Minister for Finance, 04-06 May 2025
  12. Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Commerce and Industries Minister, 04-05 June 2025

Outgoing visits

  1. PM Giorgia Meloni, State visit, March, 2023.
  2. Antonio Tajani, DPM and Foreign Minister, 2-3 March, 2023 for G20 FMM.
  3. Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, 19 June, 2023 for G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting.
  4. Giuseppe Valditara, Minister for Education and Merit, 22 June, 2023 for G20 Education Ministers Meeting.
  5. Gennaro Sanguiliano, Minister for Culture, 26 August, 2023 for G20 Culture Ministers Meeting.
  6. PM Giorgia Meloni, G20 Leaders’ Summit, September, 2023.
  7. Ignazio La Russa, President of the Italian Senate and Mr. Lorenzo Fontana, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 13-14 October, 2023 for P20.
  8. Edoardo Rixi, Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, 16-17 October, 2023.
  9. Adolfo Urso, Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy, 29 November-02 December, 2024.
  10. Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Under Secretary of State for Defence of Italy, 10-12 February, 2025.
  11. Maria Tripodi, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, 17 February, 2025.
  12. Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italian Republic, 11-12 April, 2025
  13. Anna Maria Bernini, Minister of University and Research of Italy, 11-12 April, 2025

 

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