This article covers India's cooperation with Italy in defence, science and technology, space, counter-terrorism, cyber security and agriculture. It draws on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of May 2026. The brief does not describe development assistance such as lines of credit or ITEC training for Italy, so this article concentrates on sectoral cooperation.

According to the MEA brief of May 2026, the Indian Army has a unique historical connect with Italy. Indian troops serving with the British Indian Army were deployed in Italy during World War II and played a significant role in the advances of the allied forces for the liberation of Italy.

Out of the 20 Victoria Crosses awarded for the Italian Campaign, six were awarded to Indians. 5,782 Indian soldiers were killed in action, and they are honoured in 40 Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries in Italy.

In April 2025, a memorial in honour of Sepoy Thaman Gurung, Victoria Cross, of the 5th Gurkha Rifles was inaugurated at Modigliana. On 05 July 2025, a bust of Naik Yeshwant Ghadge, a war hero of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry of the British Indian Army, was unveiled at Montone.

Defence cooperation

The brief states that the defence relationship has expanded to dialogue, service to service interactions, training, export of defence equipment, sharing information, port calls, naval exercises and maritime security.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh visited Italy in October 2023 for bilateral discussions with his counterpart, Mr. Guido Crosetto. An Agreement on defence cooperation was signed during the visit, and the Raksha Mantri interacted with CEOs of Italian companies.

Mr. Crosetto visited India on 29-30 April 2026 and met the Raksha Mantri and the National Security Advisor. They discussed defence and security cooperation, regional and global issues and new areas of collaboration, particularly industrial partnerships. The 2026-2027 bilateral Military Cooperation Plan was exchanged.

Defence committees and industry

The two countries hold regular Joint Defence Committee (JDC) and Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meetings:

  • Lt. Gen Luciano Portolano, Italian Secretary General of Defence, visited India from 11-15 March 2024 to co-chair the 10th JDC and MCG meetings in New Delhi with the Defence Secretary.
  • The 11th JDC met in Rome from 14-16 April 2025, co-chaired by Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh and Dr Luisa Riccardi, Deputy National Armaments Director. An MoU for bilateral defence industrial cooperation was signed between the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and the Federation of Italian Companies for Aerospace, Defence and Security (AIAD).
  • In April 2026, the 14th India-Italy MCG meeting was held in Delhi and prepared a plan of action for 2026-27.

Mr. Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Italian Under Secretary of State for Defence, led a defence business delegation to Aero India 2025 from 10-12 February 2025 and met Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth.

The India-Italy Defence Industry Seminar was held in Rome on 26-27 February 2026, with a business delegation led by AIAD and SIDM. Shri Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production), led the Indian delegation and met Mr. Perego di Cremnago, General Luciano Portolano, Chief of Italian Defence Forces, and Vice Admiral Giacinto Ottaviano, National Armaments Director.

Training visits, port calls and exercises

Delegations of the Indian Navy War College, the National Defence College and the Indian Army War College visited Italy in December 2024, June 2025 and November 2025 respectively.

The brief records regular ship visits and port calls as part of a focus on the Indo-Pacific:

  • Italian Navy ships: ITS Morosini (Mumbai, August 2023), ITS Cavour (Goa, October 2024), ITS Vespucci (Mumbai, November-December 2024) and Antonio Marceglia (Mumbai, May-June 2025)
  • Indian Navy ships: INS Tamal (Naples, August 2025) and INS Trikand (Taranto, September 2025)

INS Sumedha held a PASSEX with ITS Morosini off the coast of Sardinia in April 2023. The Italian Navy participated in the MILAN Naval Exercises in Vishakapatnam in February 2024.

Science and technology

Ms. Anna Maria Bernini, Minister of University and Research of Italy, visited India from 11-12 April 2025 and met Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Earth Sciences. The two sides signed an MoU for cooperation in scientific research. They agreed to implement the 2025-2027 Executive Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (EPOC) for collaboration in critical technologies such as AI and digitalisation.

Under the EPOC, 10 Projects for the Exchange of Researchers and 10 Joint Research Projects were approved for joint funding. The joint research covers blue economy, renewable energy and green hydrogen, quantum technologies, infectious diseases, and physics of matter and new materials.

Secretary DST, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, visited Trieste and Rome from 03-05 September 2025. He visited the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and Elettra Sincrotrone, and met senior officials of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of University and Research. As of the brief, both sides were working to establish a Joint Committee to implement the April 2025 MoU.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the ICTP in Trieste instituted the annual DST-ICTP Ramanujan Prize in Mathematics for developing countries. Mr. Claudio Muñoz from Chile was awarded the prize for 2025.

Space

Dr. S. Somanath, then Secretary (Space) and Chairman ISRO, visited Milan in October 2024 to attend the International Astronomical Congress and met Mr. Adolfo Urso. Three MoUs were signed between Indian and Italian space companies for satellite services and ground station solutions.

The Italian Space Agency ASI participated in the IAF Global Conference on Space Exploration (GLEX 2025) in New Delhi on 7-9 May 2025 and visited India from 22-26 September 2025. According to the brief, InSpace was to lead an Indian space delegation to Veneto, Italy, from 11-13 May 2026.

Counter-terrorism and cyber security

The 5th Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism was held in Rome on 15-16 January 2025, with the next round due in Delhi in 2026. The first meeting of the Permanent Task Force under the Joint Initiative to Counter terror financing, announced in November 2025, was held in Rome on 27 April 2026.

The bilateral Cyber Dialogue first met in New Delhi on 25 October 2024. The next dialogue is due to be held in Rome in 2026.

Agriculture and fisheries

Secretary (Agriculture) Mr. Devesh Chaturvedi visited Italy in October 2024. He met his counterpart, Undersecretary of State for Agriculture Mr. Luigi D'Eramo, and Indian agricultural workers.

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh visited Rome from 28 September to 1 October 2025 to attend the 2025 FAO Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation.