European SMEs on the road to India: intellectual property, business opportunities and challenges

In November 2018, the EU adopted a new strategy on India which aims to strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership by focusing on sustainable modernisation and on common responses to global and regional issues. It is meant to serve for the next decade as a coherent platform to advance key EU interests, improving the way the EU approaches India.

The EU is already India’s first partner in terms of trade and investments. Bilateral trade in goods in 2019 and services in 2018 total € 107,5 billion, while cumulative FDI amounts to 70.35 billion in 2018. It is also worth noting that the EU-India trade in goods is remarkably balanced with exports amounting to €38.2 billion and imports to € 39.6 billion. This proves the complementarity of the two economies. Around 6000 EU companies are present in India, providing direct and indirect employment to around 6.7 million people.

On the 8th of May 2021, the European Union and Indian leaders will meet for the EU-India summit.

European IP Helpdesk