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Do you know Italy is home to the highest number of Indians in the European Union? And will you be surprised if we were to tell you that 80 per cent of them are Punjabis, and their number is only growing?
Vincenzo de Luca, Italy’s Ambassador to India, beams as he charts the big jump in immigration from India since the 1990s. The number of immigrants to the country has grown over 10 times, from a mere 20,000 in 1991 to 210,000 this year. Eighty per cent of them are from Punjab.
Many scholars, he says, describe this as a quiet Indian revolution in Europe.
“The Indian and Punjabi communities in Italy are one of the most integrated in the economic system, especially in agriculture and dairy business,” says the Ambassador, on his maiden visit to Chandigarh.
The number of Indians getting work permits is also on the rise as is the strength of students going to Italy for higher studies. The embassy issued around 15,000 new work permits till October this year, a big jump from 380 in 2021.
“A large number of these permits were given due to the request from Italian business community because they see Punjabis as a hardworking community,” he adds.
Students are further strengthening this relationship. Every year, around 5,000 youngsters make their way to Italian colleges and universities. Which is why the Ambassador is keen to promote Italian language courses in Punjab educational institutes.
Ambassador Luca remembers how he had a taste of Punjab before he arrived to take over as the Ambassador here in 2019. “The then Ambassador of India to Italy Rinita Sandhu called me to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.’’
Luca, who is all praise for the “hardworking Punjabis”, is now on a “matchmaking” mission to promote business between the Punjabi business community, their Italian counterparts and Punjabi Italians.
Last year, the bilateral trade between Italy and Punjab touched 35 million Euros. Luca believes this trade volume can get much bigger. Punjabis in Italy, says the envoy, are big savers. “We need to find a way to funnel these remittances into investments.”
The ambassador also sees tremendous potential for collaboration with the Punjab government in food processing, agricultural machinery, dairy farming, and cold chain packaging. “We have the most sustainable agriculture with the least CO2 emissions, we have also mastered the transformation to organic farming,” he says. Luca is eager to help the state take the next leap forward in farming and dairy business.
Another idea he is keen to share with the state is that of using Geographic Indication Source (GIS) mapping to boost tourism. “Italy has the highest number of GIS products, it’s very important for promoting various territories,” he says. This can be used to promote tourism in India as well. “In India, Punjab has the best dal makhani, Varanasi is great for lassi while Kerala has the best prawns,” he adds.
Nachhater Singh Garha, a post doctorate researcher (POP) at the Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) in Spain, writes that Indian immigration to Italy, or Italia as it’s called back home, began in the 1960s, but it was only in the last two decades that it has gathered steam. Most Punjabis are concentrated in Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna (Northern Italy), Lazio (Central Italy) and Campania (southwestern Italy).
Indo-Italian trade
It’s not just Punjabis who are seeing a boom in Italy, the trade ties between the two nations are also trending upward with the bilateral trade touching 13 billion Euros this October. Italy is the third largest trading partner of India in the EU, says Luca. “We import iron, steel and aluminium from India while exporting machinery.”
The strategic partnership between the two countries got a boost after the prime ministers of the two countries met on the sidelines of the G20 summit last year. The defence ties too are back on track in the framework of make in India. With Ukraine at war, the defence industry is looking at Italy for spare parts. The ship building too is gathering pace with Italian companies signing an MoU with the Kochi shipyard.
Italy has the second largest EU chamber of commerce in India with 1,000 companies. “At present, there are 600 Italian companies in India, mainly in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka.”
Covid-19 has given a push to new collaborations in the field of research on genomes between the two nations.
The field of finance is another new chapter in bilateral relations. Sace, for instance, is providing long-term credit at very reasonable interest rates.
But everyone knows, Italy is not just about business or agriculture, it’s also about art, culture, fashion, design, films and food. “We organised the highest number of cultural events in the last three years,” says Ambassador Luca. These ranged from musical nights and fashion design events to Italian cuisine weekends and film festivals. Efforts are afoot to bring Italian opera to India with the Neemrana Foundation.
That Indians too are responding warmly to Italian overtures was evident at Salone del Mobile, the annual interior design event at Milan. “This year we hosted 4000 operators from India, we had to set up a special visa desk,’’ says the envoy.
In Chandigarh, the ambassador got a warm welcome from Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who tweeted about his fruitful discussions with ambassador Luca.
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