The 11–13 April trip to Paris and Rome by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is very important. The G20 is now being presided over by India, which also just finished its fourth round of free trade agreement discussions with the EU (FTA). After experiencing a decline during the covid epidemic, India’s commerce with Italy and France has seen an uptick. In 2021–22, bilateral trade in goods between India and Italy reached $13.23 billion, while trade in products between India and France, excluding military equipment, reached $12.42 billion. Iron and steel, items made of them, aluminium and its products, petroleum products, and ready-made cotton clothing were among India’s top exports to Italy. top exports from us petroleum products, electronic devices, pharmaceutical formulations, cotton ready-made clothing (including accessories), aeroplanes, and spacecraft parts were all exported to France. India had a surplus in its products trade with both of these European nations. In the services sector, bilateral trade between India and Italy was $952 million in 2020–21 whereas it was $4.63 billion with France. Telecommunication services, IT and IT-enabled services, business services, and transport services are among the services that India sells to these two markets.
