Packaging and plastics machinery find their ally in India

The spotlight is turning on Italy-India cooperation, now that the country under Modi's leadership holds the G20 presidency, amplifying its political and economic prominence globally. 

The strengthening of the Italy-India relationship, confirmed by Giorgia Meloni's visit to the Indian premier after years of institutional tensions that have cooled relations between the two countries, may reverberate in the coming months in a further acceleration of vibrant trade exchanges for many Made in Italy sectors.

Indeed, the most populous country in the world is a very interesting market not only for the classic top sectors of "bello e ben fatto" in Italy (fashion, motors and food), but also for segments such as packaging and plastics technologies.

In fact, data from the Mecs Study Center show that Italian machinery exports to the Indian subcontinent are growing steadily: exports to India reached +24.5 percent in the plastics sector in the first 11 months of 2022 and an even greater +40.6 percent in the packaging sector compared to the same period in 2021. This development is exponential when compared to exports to countries with which Italy already has established relations, such as the United States: in this case, the latest available data show a slight growth in packaging machinery exports (+4.6%) and even a slight decline (-3.1%) for plastic machinery.

In 2022, Italian packaging machinery exports to India will exceed €90 million in value and, in light of the favorable geopolitical environment, are projected to reach pre-Covid results already this year. As far as plastic technology exports are concerned, the results achieved in 2022 already represent the highest peak ever reached in India by Italian manufacturers: between January and November 2022 they had already exceeded 91 million versus 92 million of 2019.