The recent visit of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to India marked a crucial moment in bilateral relations in the field of industrial partnership enabling marriage between manufacturing sectors, including defence industrial complex.India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, with a GDP close to $3 trillion in 2022, and, according to some analysts, it will become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. With a young and growing population of more than 1.4 billion, India becomes, in 2023, the most populated country in the world. Moreover, 107 Indian “unicorns” witness the vibrant side of the economic Indian system.

On the other hand, Italy is the second manufacturing power in Europe, showcasing the excellence of advanced manufacturing all over the world, especially in India. Italian companies have a unique innovative capacity, often appreciated by Indian partners.

Above all, our bilateral trade has dramatically grown over the last two years, reaching unprecedented levels and recording a more than encouraging milestone of 14.9 billion euros in 2022, with a 42% growth over 2021, which already recorded a record year (10.5 billion euros, well above pre-Covid levels). Italian imports, amounting to 6.7 billion euros, represent the main component of the bilateral trade flow, with a percentage change of +52.4% over the previous year. Exports to India have been also growing, with +24.2% over 2021. This makes our trade with India the second biggest one for Italy in the Indo-Pacific region.In the framework of the reconfiguration process of global value chains, Italy is increasingly looking to India as an important partner in pursuing its strategy of supply chain consolidation and diversification.

The Joint Declaration signed by Prime Minister Meloni and Prime Minister Modi outlines the contours of the strategic partnership, by deepening bilateral collaboration in sectors such as energy transition, digital connectivity and advanced manufacturing and opening it up in others, such as defence. Italian and Indian companies can thus count on a wide-ranging and updated policy framework, in the wake of the one provided by the Action Plan 2020-2024.

In the defence sector, the expectation on both sides for an effective revival of cooperation is alive, both through joint training initiatives and from the industrial point of view, where Italy is ready to showcase its advanced technological solutions.Interest in India from our industry is more tangible than ever. This was confirmed by the wide and qualified participation of our companies in the business roundtable, chaired by deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani and Indian minister Goyal, during the visit. Moreover, it has been evidenced by the agreements signed by some of our important companies with Indian partners, in the context of the visit.

As of today, there are about 700 Italian companies in India, of which 300 have production plants employing about 50,000 people. Our goal will be to encourage an increase in the presence of Italian companies in India, as also emphasised by our minister Tajani and wished by minister Goyal, by promoting “friend-shoring” initiatives and new joint ventures as well.

Moreover, they can rely on a structured financial support mechanism, namely provided by SACE and SIMEST. With its Push Strategy, SACE has in India the largest exposure in Asia in terms of transactions.

SIMEST is the export and internationalisation hub of the CDP Group (the Italian Development Bank) which brings together all the instruments to support Italian companies wishing to compete and grow in India. It operates through loans aimed at internationalisation, export credit support and capital investments.

(The writer is Italy’s Ambassador to India)

The Congress on Sunday staged nation-wide protests against the Modi government over Rahul Gandhi‘s court conviction and disqualification from the Lok Sabha. At the main ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ at Raj Ghat, also in the backdrop of uncertainty on his electoral career, Gandhi’s sister, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, conspicuously took the centre-stage.Vadra called PM Modi “coward” and “arrogant”, and alleged that the case and judgement against her brother happened “fast” after he targeted the PM in the Lok Sabha over the Adani issue.

“Wah Wah, Wah Wah, lots of courage. You are a coward. The PM of this country is a coward. File a case against me and take me to jail,” Vadra said. “He is hiding behind the power. He is arrogant. But this country has a long tradition, a tradition of Hindu religion, of people answering an arrogant raja (king), of people spotting an arrogant raja and people responding from their hearts. Today marks the beginning of change,” she said.

Her posture, tone and tenor soon set chatter in Congress circles and many of them also noted how party president chief Mallikarjun Kharge earlier started his speech by referring to Vadra as “our leader Priyanka Gandhi ji”.Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were not present at the event.

Vadra tried to counter the “dynasty” tag on the Gandhi family by evoking Lord Ram and Pandavas and subtly compared Rahul Gandhi’s predicament to Ram’s “vanvas”. “You accuse us of parivarwad (dynasty). What was Bhagwan Ram? He was sent to vanvas. He did his duty for his family and the world. Was Bhagwan Ram a parivarwadi? Were Pandavas dynasts because they fought for the tradition of their family? Should we now feel ashamed because our family members martyred for this country and shed their blood for this country? Blood of my family members has nurtured the democracy of this country.”

She said after branding Rahul Gandhi as “Pappu”, the BJP realised “he was not a Pappu” and, after his Bharat Jodo Yatta and questions to the PM, it became sacred.She said her family members had martyred for the country and their blood nurtured its democracy.

Accusing the ruling dispensation of insulting Rahul and the Gandhi family and still getting away, Vadra said: “You call my brother, the son of a martyr, a traitor and Mir Jafar. You insult his mother. You insult my family every day. But no cases are filed against such people (who made such remarks).”

She also stressed on her family’s Kashmiri Pandit roots. “Your Prime Minister, in a Parliament full of people, asked ‘why doesn’t this family use the surname Nehru’. He insults the whole family of Kashmiri Pandits, and the custom of a son carrying forward the family’s name after the death of his father.”

The Congress is now mulling more agitations, including a likely ‘Parliament Gherao‘.

Even as he lent his support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi post his disqualification, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called on the Congress to support regional parties in order to defeat the BJP in 2024. The SP chief is also willing to re-assess its long standing policy of not fielding candidates from Congress pocketboroughs of Amethi and Raebareli, which are contested by members of the Gandhi family. Earlier in the month, after visiting Amethi – one of the two seats Rahul Gandhi contested from in 2019 only to lose to BJP’s Smriti Irani – Yadav had lamented over the state of affairs in the ‘VIP’ district, and said this time around the district will not choose “big people” but people with “big hearts”.

“SP wins there. Our MLAs win there…our aim is to defeat the BJP. We don’t want the BJP to win,” Yadav told ET on Sunday to a question on whether his statement on Amethi was a ‘signal’ to Congress. On Raebareli, Yadav said, “Even in Raebareli, we want BJP to lose. Only then someone will win. Do you want us to help someone only to let BJP win?” Without naming anyone, Yadav also highlighted how the sitting SP MLA from Amethi- Maharaji Prajapati was invited by Irani for a “khichdi” bhoj she had kept at her residence in Amethi in January as elections were approaching. Raebareli, Congress’ only LS seat in UP, is curren tly represented by Sonia Gandhi.

Party insiders said while no decision has been taken about Amethi, Yadav’s tweet about the city and his recent statements about the need for Congress to support regional parties in states they were strong in was a message to the Grand Old Party to essentially drop its “big brotherly” attitude and hold discussions with the SP – the principal challenger to the BJP in UP.