India, Italy trade co-operations gains momentum

Irish Sun (ANI) Tuesday 1st November, 2011

Expressing confidence that India and Italy will reach the target of Euro 15 billion, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said that bilateral trade with Italy is fast gaining momentum.

Talking to reporters after meeting an Italian business delegation led by Italian Economic Development Minister Paolo Romani here, Sharma said: " We have had useful discussions to review the progress in our bilateral relationship"

"Numbers are important, yes, when we look at the trade, it is substantial; it is growing, registering a growth of over 25 percent. Therefore we are well on course to achieve the target sooner then later of Euros 15 billion between India and Italy," he added.

He further said while Italy had the strength to expand its already prosperous economy, India was a globally potential business power, which can bring great avenues of investment to countries.

Emphasising further, Sharma said trade between India and Italy last year stood at 8.50 billion dollars and the data till August 2011 shows an impressive growth and reflect optimism.

While referring to textiles and leather as India's strengths in trading, Sharma also said that they were considering raising the cap on the FDI in single brand retail in the country.

"These are again two sectors which are growing very fast in India. Traditionally we have been good in textiles. Now of course we have new and new kinds of textiles coming in which have much more applications. Therefore we have talked about institutional linkages, which are important to gain from friends in this particular field, which would be a mutually rewarding partnership. Many other leading Italian designs have come to India. Throughout policy regime, we have 51 percent FDI in single brand retail, and we are seriously considering how to raise it to a higher level," he said.

Sharma also said that Italian businessmen could also explore infrastructure sector, which needs one trillion dollar between 2012 and 2017. (ANI)