The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), and four wine agencies of Italy's Emilia-Romagna region are signing an MOU in Mumbai on June 16 to open a new chapter in India's contemporary wine-making history.

The four Italian agencies, Centuria-RIT, Catev, Research Centre for Vegetal Production  (CRPV) and Enoteca Regionale of Emilia-Romagna (Dozza), will provide training, technical know-how and expertise for Maharashtra's wine industry.

The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce & Industry will be the coordinator between the Italian and Indian parties. The MOU will outline that, following the successful completion of a feasibility study, infrastructure support will be provided by the MIDC and the Italians will provide technical expertise in all aspects of wine production and marketing.

"This is a momentous achievement for Italy - and the Chamber - in beating all other leading wine producing nations of the world by providing what will effectively be the first such world-class wine facility in India," says a media release issued by the Indo-Italian Chamber.

Maharashtra is India's leading wine producing region, accounting for 95% of the country's wine production. Nearly 9.5 million litres of wine are produced in Maharashtra by 43 wineries, and the state has recently announced a surge of 33 per cent in wine exports for 2005-06. This is thanks to the very active policy of encouraging wine production in the state, which has seen Nashik, Sangli, Pune, Solapur, Ahmednagar and Satara being designated Agri Export Zones (AEZs) for grapes and grape wine parks. Recognising the great potential of the winemaking industry in India, the Indo-Italian Chamber embarked on Winebar, a technical assistance project within the Asia Invest Programme of the European Commission. Winebar is a joint enterprise between certain provinces of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy and the wine-growing districts of Maharashtra.

Under this project, the Indo-Italian Chamber, along with Centuria-RIT, CRPV and the Maharashtra Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (MCED), have worked together to promote lasting technological and business partnerships between European and Indian SMEs.

As part of Winebar, the Indo-Italian Chamber organised a delegation of high-level Indian officials and wine producers to Italy on April 5-8. The delegation, which included V. K. Jairath, Maharashtra's Secretary for Industries, Maharashtra; the CEO, MIDC; and an MCED official also visited Vinitaly 2006.

During his visit, Jairath made presentations on the Indian economy, with special focus on Maharashtra and grape production in the state, and also addressed press conferences. The signing of the MOU will be the most significant outcome of this visit.