Exploring Italy's Contributions to India's Industrial Landscape"

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Italy after a long hiatus of three years due to the pandemic. The changes that I noticed were striking, both in terms of development and the people's openness to different cultures. It was surprising to see the similarities between Italy and India, including a shared love for rice as a staple food and wheat as a primary crop, moderate climates, and a rich history. As I explored Italy, I couldn't help but ponder how Italy has contributed to India over the years, and the many things that have been forgotten or overlooked.

India and Italy share the legacy of being very ancient civilizations. Mohenjo-Daro civilization started in 26th century BCE while the Roman empire began in 27th century BCE. Both countries and rather regions (as both became independent states only recently in history), had trade relations that began at least as early as 1st century AD. The document known as Muziris Papyris depicting how goods were transported from Muziris, a south Indian port, to Alexandria and the Indian cookware found in Alexandria and ports in the sea trade route is a few literary sources that stand proof of this very old connection. Wine and bronze utensils were the goods brought from Italy to India in those days.?

The context of this trade was that during those centuries, Italy had an elite class that could afford the luxury of Indian spices and aromatic substances. Presently Italy ranks in position five among the European Union nations when it comes to trade partnerships with India. ?As Italy has been experiencing economic turmoil since 2008, the trade volume has slightly got diminished. ?Still, India has been importing “special purpose machinery, machine tools, metallurgical products and engineering items” from Italy.

Fiat Auto was a pioneering Italian company to invest in India and make a mark here and this was how India got its first commercial car, the Fiat Premier Padmini. It was an indigenous version of the Italian Fiat car, the Fiat 1100. This car started plying the Indian roads in 1964 and became the generic name for a commercial car for many decades in India. ?It overthrew the monopoly of Ambassador cars, manufactured by Hindustan Motors, and met the same fate as Ambassadors when Maruti 800 entered the scene in 1983. Fiat India is still India’s 9th biggest car manufacturer.

Other Italian brands that made a distinct mark in the Indian industry:-

Piaggio had a decent market share in India and has an array of different vehicles including motorcycles and scooters. Vehicles offered by Piaggio like Piaggio Porter 700 have offered Indian small-scale farmers and traders a vehicle suitable for “last-mile deliveries” and “intercity journeys”. ?Piaggio Ape, an innovative 3-wheeled light commercial vehicle named after the hard-working insect, the bee, revolutionised the Indian small-scale logistics scene. Ape has become almost a household name for all kinds of mini trucks in India.

The Lambrate scooters, originally manufactured by the Italian company, Innocenti, are worth a mention because they became the ultimate vehicle of the poor farmer in India to carry his produce to the markets from 1980-2000. The scooter made its entry into the Indian scene as early as the time of independence and in 1972, an Indian public sector company, Scooters India Limited bought the brand from the Italian manufacturer company, Innocenti.

Scooters India Limited started manufacturing and selling Lambretta, which made huge losses but became a great success story. The company stopped the production of Lambretta scooters in 1997 but still powers its three-wheeler brand, Vikram, using Lambretta engines.

Bisleri - The success story of the Italian bottled drinking water company, Bisleri, in India, is another amazing industrial concept realized by equally amazing people. Dr. Rossi, the Italian owner of Bisleri (which was the name of the mother of Dr. Rossi) convinced the rich Parsi advocate, Khushroo Suntook of Mumbai to start the first-ever bottled drinking water company in India in 1965. It was a strange idea yet for Indians to purchase bottled drinking water paying a price but the two pioneers banked their hopes on the poor drinking water quality of water available in Mumbai. Khushroo later commented about the mindset of the people of India at that time in the following words, “At first, they said, who’s going to buy water for one rupee! It was such a new concept. No one wanted to pay for water. But slowly the hotels started taking them.”?Now the story of Bisleri has won a place in history and during the initial years when there was not much competition from other bottled drinking water brands, people of India started to think of Bisleri as a generic name for bottled drinking water rather than a brand name.

There are now about 680 Italian companies presently invested in India. The very fruitful and historical Italian connection with Indian industry remains strong. The contribution of Italian brands to Indian modernity calls has become a topic of serious social science research as the cases of Fiat, Lambretta and Bisleri proved. How much these brands gave wings to the aspirations of a rising middle class in India is subject to further understanding and investigation.

Overall, my visit to Italy after a long time was a pleasant surprise. The changes and improvements in the country were evident, and it was heartening to see the similarities between India and Italy. Despite being located on opposite sides of the world, the two countries share a lot in common, and it was a delight to experience it firsthand.