Octagona leads Italian SMEs to conquer India

A new major challenge for Octagona, which has been appointed Knowledge Partner by the Indian Embassy in Italy for the implementation of the Access India Initiative Program, a project aimed at opening the Subcontinent's market to Italian SMEs.

“Make in India” is a campaign launched in 2014 by Prime Minister Modi, which invites companies from all over the world to establish their manufacturing facilities in India. The campaign promotes investments in 25 strategic sectors for the national economy. Modi intends to drive development towards a model oriented towards high-intensity production and aims to transform the Indian economy into a global industrial hub. India is indeed becoming one of the main global destinations for the manufacturing sector. The subcontinent now presents itself as the only truly interesting destination in the Asian quadrant, in terms of volume and growth.

India today presents impressive elements regarding opportunities for Italian businesses: second most populous country and fifth largest economy in the world, third global economy by purchasing power parity, significant growth rate and among the highest among major economies, implementation of reforms in recent years which have contributed to making the country increasingly business friendly India has moved up 14 places in the ranking of the'ease of doing business”(2020). Considering that growth will continue at sustained rates in the coming years and that its weight in the world is destined to increase, India can be defined as the market of the future. Italian know-how and technologies can prove to be extremely attractive in accompanying the Indian entrepreneurial fabric on its extraordinary growth path. From these premises and from the MAKE IN INDIA program, the Access India Initiative (AII) is born.

Access India Initiative Program

The Indian Embassy in Rome, as part of “Make in India,” has launched the strategic program “Access India Initiative” (AII). AII has three objectives:

– to help Italian companies interested in India understand the business opportunities present;

- support companies in their market access journey;

– to grow and consolidate the business of Italian companies in India, through a concrete, structured, and long-term project.

For the implementation of the Access India Initiative, the Embassy has selected Octagona as its Knowledge Partner. Octagona will be responsible for the project's implementation and operational management, in coordination with the Embassy itself.

Approximately 30 companies will be involved in the project and will be divided into 2 groups. The first group consists of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) that wish to establish production facilities; this group will have full and complete access to the program. The second group, on the other hand, is made up of SMEs that are already engaged in import and export operations with India. In this case, only those companies with a long-term strategic vision and that aim to create a production facility in the future will have access to the program. The evaluation will be carried out on a case-by-case basis.

Complete publications from national and trade journals follow:

October 10, 2019 – Sole 24 Ore

October 10, 2019 – Fare News (online newspaper of Confindustria Emilia – Centro Area)

October 10, 2019 – Agenzia Nova

October 12, 2019 – Gazzetta di Modena

October 14, 2019 – PMI.it