Rome

India and Italy are ancient civilizations but young states. Peoples of these two ancient civilizations have known, interacted and traded with each other for over 2000 years. Political relations between India and Italy were established in 1947. The two countries enjoy cordial relationship. Italian port cities were important trading posts on the spice route. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo, during his travels to the east, also traveled to India in the 13th century and wrote about his experiences.

With a bilateral trade of USD 13.229 bn in 2021-22, which is 53.86% increase over the previous financial year. Italy is India's 4th largest trading partner in EU, after Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. India ranks 15th as country of origin of Italian imports, accounting for 1.5% of Italian imports. The top items of exports from India to Italy are: organic basic product, clothing, precious metals and other non precious metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, pigments and yarns, Motor Vehicles & Parts, Refined petroleum Products etc.

Indian companies in Italy are mainly in IT, electronics and engineering sectors. Over 600 large Italian companies are active in India, covering varied sectors such as fashion and garments, textiles and textile machinery, automotive and automotive components, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, confectionery, insurance, etc.

Italy ranks 17th in FDI inflows in India during April 2000 to June 2022 with FDI inflow of US $ 3.20 bn during this period. The top sectors attracting FDI - Automobile (29.8%), Trading (17.1%), Industrial Machinery (5.6%), Services (5.1 %), Electrical Equipment (4.6%). The stock of Overseas Direct Investment from India to Italy up to 2021 is at the level of US$ 401 million. (source: Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)).

The Indian community in Italy (estimated at 2.5 lakhs including PIOs) is the third largest community of Indians in Europe. According to official Italian data, there are 1.62 lakhs legal Indian migrants as on Jan 2019 accounting 4.4% of the non-EU citizens and 5th largest foreign community in Italy.