India, Italy Partner to Boost Manufacturing & Filmmaking Agenda

• Piyush Goyal’s Italy visit focused on boosting trade, manufacturing, and cultural ties.
• Bilateral trade hit $14.56 billion in FY24, with growing Italian investments in India.
• Key sectors for collaboration include pharma, Industry 4.0, shipbuilding, and clean energy.

The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is considered crucial for deepening the economic arrangements between the two, with Italy emerging as a central partner.

India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s trip to Italy was aimed at enhancing manufacturing partnerships and trade and cultural cooperation. Goyal and his delegation met the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and senior CEOs to garner more Italian investments into India.

The delegation also promoted India as a location for international film shoots. Veteran actor Kabir Bedi, part of that delegation, elaborated on cultural cooperation and India's production incentives—up to $3 million per film based on local spending.

"Indians and Italians work brilliantly together. And if this relationship can be furthered at the business level, it will lead to a really fantastic jugalbandi... This financial assistance system is of the utmost importance to producers today", he added.

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Italy is India's fourth-largest trading partner within the EU, and bilateral trade hit $14.56 billion in FY24, including Indian exports worth some $8.76 billion. Italian companies are also increasingly making their way into India, including Bonfiglioli Group in robotics and machine tools.

Sonia Bonfiglioli, Chairperson of the group said, "Our future plan is to invest more. In India today, we have no foreign managers, no foreign workers. All our top managers are Indian… Our idea is to further develop the tech centres we have in Chennai, with dedicated solutions made in India".

In the visit, the major sectors for cooperation have been identified: pharmaceuticals, Industry 4.0, shipbuilding, gems & jewellery, and energy transition. With strong ties between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Giorgia Meloni, both nations aim to create what Bedi called a true “jugalbandi of business and culture"—blending economic and creative synergies for mutual growth.