Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said India’s exports of toffees, caramels and similar confectionery products have increased by nearly 166 per cent since 2013-14.
Sharing export figures on X, the minister said exports in the category rose from Rs 49.68 crore in FY2013-14 to Rs 132 crore in FY2025-26.
Calling it a “toffee tale”, Goyal said the growing popularity of Indian confectionery products reflects the expanding global appeal of “Made in India” products.
The remarks came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a packet of Melody toffees to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his visit to Rome.
The informal exchange between the two leaders quickly gained traction on social media, reviving the popular “#Melodi” trend, a hashtag created by combining the names of Modi and Meloni.
Meloni later shared a video of the interaction on X, where she was seen smiling and speaking about the gift.
In the video, the Italian Prime Minister described the Melody toffees as “very, very good” and thanked PM Modi for the gesture.
The “Melodi” hashtag first gained international attention during the COP28 Summit in Dubai, when Meloni shared a selfie with PM Modi captioned “Good friends at COP28, #Melodi”.
Since then, public interactions between the two leaders at international events, including the G20 New Delhi Summit, have frequently drawn attention online.
Earlier in the day, visuals from a special dinner hosted near the Colosseum in Rome also circulated widely on social media, showing the two leaders sharing a casual interaction and taking selfies together.
-IANS
