The Hindu Business Line : Indian cos go for Italian engineering design

Either through acquisition of Italian design companies, setting up own centres or collaboration, its Italian engineering design that has found the fancy of Indian companies.

For example, automotive company Mahindras has acquired an Italian design company, said Mr Nicolo Tassoni Estense di Castelvecchio, Head of the Economic and Commercial Ofice, Italian Embassy in India.

Another interesting development is the agreement forged between Pininfarwa, the Italian design firm specialising in cars, especially the luxury makes and the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, he told Business Line here.

The NID has also tied up with several Italian universities and companies in the area of industrial design. Italian know-how and Indian skills are being combined to add value to the effort, Mr Tassoni said.

Even in the area of textiles, examples of Indian companies acquiring Italian brands was growing, Mr Tassoni stated. The two-way bilateral trade between India and Italy stood at $6 billion. It has been growing at a healthy 40 per cent in the last three years. However, the investments from either country were not big, but productive.

Italy is upbeat on tapping growing opportunities in India’s retail, industrial design and branded products while consolidating on its traditional industrial machinery, textiles and food processing, he said.

Italy processes 70 per cent of its agriculture produce. With India growing in retail, the opportunities in cold chain, sorting of vegetables and fruits, packaging and so on, are bound to grow. Italian companies have expertise in these areas and will look for business, Mr Tassoni said.

Asked about Italy sourcing Indian IT expertise, he said language is a limitation at present. However, areas such as security, banking offer scope for Indian companies to pitch in.

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