CDP Business Matching: The New Digital Platform Connecting Indian and Italian Companies

The Embassy of Italy to India and the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IICCI) invite you to the launch event for the Indian market of the CDP Business Matching Platform made by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The Business Matching Platform is the new and innovative tool to allow Indian and Italian companies, especially SMEs, to meet and grow by creating new partnerships and increasing bilateral relations between the business communities of the two countries.

Agenda:

Moderator: Laurent Franciosi, Head of International Business Support, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP)

15.00 – 15.10: Introductory remarks

• Vincenzo de Luca, Ambassador of Italy in India
• Pasquale Salzano, Chairman at SIMEST SpA and Chief International Affairs Officer at CDP SpA

15.10 – 15.30: Indo-Italian business relations and supporting tools

• Alessandro Liberatori, Trade Commissioner / Director of the Trade Promotion Office of the Italian Embassy - New Delhi (ICE)
• Umesh Chowdhary, Past Chairman, CII (Eastern Region) and CII National Committee on Railways & Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Titagarh Wagons Limited
• Claudio Maffioletti, CEO & Secretary General, The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IICCI)
• Gautam Bhansali, Head of SACE Mumbai Office
• Carlo De Simone, Head of Indirect Channels, SIMEST

15.30 – 15.50: Experience sharing: success stories

• Indian company investing in Italy: Suket Singhal, Securemeters
• Italian company investing in India: Alberto Noventa, Export Area Manager, CIB UNIGAS (tbc)
• Italian company investing in India: Marco Manfredi, Intl. Sales Director (Skincare), Alfaparf Group (tbc)
• Italian interested in exploring new business opportunities in India: Vinayak Joshi, Market Development Manager, BLM SpA

15.50 – 16.00: CDP Business Matching Platform presentation

• Riccardo Honorati Bianchi, CDP Business Matching Platform Coordinator

16.00 – 16.10: Q&A Session

16.10 – 16.15: Closing remarks and final greetings

• Vincenzo de Luca, Ambassador of Italy in India

Background information and event description

India and Italy are two young nations that share an ancient history. In fact, in the southern region of Kerala, several silver and bronze coins depicting Roman emperors have been recently found - proof that trade relations between the ancient civilizations had begun over two thousand years ago.

Today, India and Italy are solid commercial partners trading almost 10 billion dollars of goods and services every year and, although the results are yet to be published, 2022 is expected to be the best year ever for commercial trade between the two countries.

However, there is room for growth. According to Worldbank, Italy is India’s 5th trade partner in Europe by volume of trade and several industries have been identified as opportunity sectors by the Obiettivo India report: machinery, green economy, food processing, pharma and infrastructure.

CDP Business Matching places itself within this context. It is a new tool built for Indian and Italian companies to match, meet and build business relationships virtually: a platform aiming at bringing together the business communities of the two countries, especially SMEs, despite the current physical limitations.

During the event, the audience will be given a complete overview of how companies can grow and benefit from international trade. The financial instruments for international trade will be illustrated as well as new business insights from success stories and market experts. At the end of the event, there will also be a Q&A session where the audience will have a chance to pose questions directly to the speakers.