Key takeaways
- Leather goods, bags and footwear (HS 42 and 64) were US$277 million of the US$824 million of our categories that India exported to Italy in 2025, about a third (UN Comtrade).
- Italy's Consumer Code requires consumer information at least in Italian. Where labels are multilingual, the Italian must be at least as visible and legible as the other languages.
- Article 6 of the Code requires the EU producer or importer's details and, for goods made outside the EU, the country of origin on the label or pack.
- Since 1 January 2023 all packaging, including export cartons, must carry its material identification; consumer packaging also needs disposal information.
What Italy buys from India
India reported exports to Italy of US$824 million in 2025 in the categories Clear To Load inspects, up 7% on 2024. The profile differs from France and Spain. Furniture is small, at US$17 million, while leather goods, bags and footwear (HS chapters 42 and 64) together reached US$277 million, about a third of the total. Home goods were US$142 million.
| Category (HS) | 2025, US$ million |
|---|---|
| Knitted apparel (61) | 221 |
| Woven apparel (62) | 176 |
| Footwear (64) | 119 |
| Bags and cases (4202) | 83 |
| Home textiles (6301–6304), of which furnishing articles (6304) 30 | 55 |
| Rugs and carpets (57) | 31 |
| Stone (68) | 29 |
| Furniture and lighting (9401, 9403–9405) | 17 |
The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts reports US$68.90 million of handicraft exports to Italy in FY2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025), 1.8% of India's total and almost unchanged (−0.13%) on the year before.
Where Italy's leather, footwear and knitwear are made
Agra, Kanpur and Ambur are Towns of Export Excellence for leather products (DGFT Appendix 1B), and "Agra Leather Footwear" is a registered geographical indication. Our product pages set out the checks for leather shoes, leather sandals, leather handbags and wallets and small leather goods.
Knitwear, Italy's largest line, comes from towns listed for it: Tirupur for hosiery and Ludhiana for woollen knitwear. See T-shirt and knit top inspection. Rugs come from Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Panipat, the carpet Towns of Export Excellence (hand-knotted wool rugs). For stone, Makrana marble from Rajasthan's Nagaur district is a registered geographical indication; see stone inspection.
Italian labels: what the Codice del Consumo requires
Italy's Consumer Code (Legislative Decree 206/2005) sets the minimum information on products sold to consumers. Article 9 requires all consumer information at least in Italian. Where labels are in several languages, Italian must appear with characters no less visible and legible than the others. Article 7 says the information must be on the pack or label when the product is offered for sale; only the instructions and precautions may go in accompanying documents, which can be digital.
| Codice del Consumo, art. 6(1) | What we check at the factory |
|---|---|
| (a) Legal or commercial name of the product | Italian product name on the label, box or swing tag |
| (b) Name or brand and registered office of the producer or an EU-established importer, with postal and electronic address | Your company details printed as approved |
| (c) Country of origin, if outside the EU | "Made in India" or an equivalent origin statement on the label or pack |
| (d) Materials or substances that may harm people, property or the environment | Warnings present where your specification calls for them |
| (e) Materials and processing methods, where decisive for quality | Material statements, such as vera pelle or a footwear material pictogram, match the goods |
| (f) Instructions, precautions and intended use | Italian text in the box or on the leaflet you approved |
For leather and footwear the material statement matters most. A leather claim or footwear pictogram that does not match the upper, lining and sole is a finding we report with photographs.
Packaging material codes on every carton
Italy made environmental labelling of packaging mandatory from 1 January 2023, under article 219(5) of Legislative Decree 152/2006 as amended in 2020, with technical guidelines issued by ministerial decree 360/2022. Two parts apply:
- All packaging, consumer and trade alike, must identify its material using the codes of Commission Decision 97/129/EC. Examples are PAP 20 for corrugated cardboard, PAP 21 for non-corrugated board, LDPE 4 for low-density polyethylene bags and FOR 50 for wood. Each part a user can separate by hand gets its own code.
- Consumer packaging must also tell the buyer how to dispose of it. Trade-only packaging, such as master cartons, can leave the disposal information out, but not the material code. The information may also be given through digital channels such as a QR code.
At the factory this means checking the export carton print, polybags, inner boxes and inserts for the right codes and your disposal artwork. For a shoe order, that includes the shoe box, tissue, polybag and master carton.
The EU Packaging Regulation (EU) 2025/40 has applied since 12 August 2026 and schedules harmonised material labels from 12 August 2028. Ask CONAI, the Italian packaging consortium, or your packaging adviser how the national rules apply now before you change artwork.
Rules that apply
EU import rules, including EORI, TARIC, the GPSR responsible person, REACH and ISPM 15, are on our EU import compliance checklist. For Italy's leather-heavy mix, read chromium VI in leather and azo dyes and restricted substances, then the GPSR. Chromium VI and azo dyes need a lab test, which we can arrange through lab testing coordination.
Trade agreement. The EU and India concluded a free trade agreement on 27 January 2026, and the European Commission sent its signing and conclusion proposals to the Council on 11 September 2026. As of 14 October 2026 it was not signed or in force, so normal EU duty rates apply. Ask your customs broker about rates; we do not quote them.
Time difference, reports and booking
India Standard Time is UTC+5:30 with no summer time, so India is 4:30 ahead of Milan and Rome in winter and 3:30 ahead in summer. Our office hours, 9:30 am to 6:30 pm IST from Monday to Saturday, run until 2:00 pm Italian time in winter and 3:00 pm in summer.
Reports arrive within 24 hours of the inspection, after supervisor review, with a verdict of Cleared to load, Hold or Not cleared. For footwear, a during-production inspection is worth booking: sole bonding and lasting faults are cheaper to fix before the shoes are boxed. Each visit costs US$249 per man-day. Agra, Kanpur, Ambur and Tirupur are outside our inspector bases, so travel there is charged at actual cost, quoted before you book; from Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Saharanpur, Moradabad and Kolkata it is US$99 per man-day. See pricing and book an inspection.
Sources
- UN Comtrade: India's exports by partner and HS heading, 2025
- EPCH Annual Report 2024-25: country-wise handicraft exports
- Codice del Consumo (D.Lgs. 206/2005), art. 9: language (Brocardi)
- Codice del Consumo, art. 6: minimum information (Brocardi)
- Codice del Consumo, art. 7: where the information must appear (Brocardi)
- Bird & Bird: environmental labelling of packaging in Italy (March 2023)
- Assolombarda: ministerial guidelines on environmental labelling published
- EUR-Lex: Commission Decision 97/129/EC, identification system for packaging materials
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste
- European Commission: EU–India agreement
- DGFT: Appendix 1B, Towns of Export Excellence
- PIB: Foreign Trade Policy 2023 announced (Mirzapur added as a Town of Export Excellence)
- IP India GI Registry: Agra Leather Footwear, application 721
- IP India GI Registry: Makrana Marble, application 405
- timeanddate.com: India Standard Time