NEW DELHI: Highlighting the expanding global appeal of “Made in India” products, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Wednesday that India’s exports of toffees, caramels, and similar confectionery products have surged by nearly 166 per cent since 2013-14.
Sharing the impressive export figures on X (formerly Twitter), the minister referred to the growth as a “toffee tale.” He noted that exports in the confectionery category rose significantly from ₹49.68 crore in FY2013-14 to ₹132 crore in FY2025-26.
The remarks from the Commerce Minister came on a day when a light-hearted diplomatic exchange dominated social media. During his ongoing visit to Rome, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a packet of Melody toffees to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The informal exchange quickly gained massive traction online, reviving the popular “#Melodi” trend—a widely used hashtag created by combining the names of Modi and Meloni. The Italian Prime Minister later shared a video of their interaction on X, where she was seen smiling and enthusiastically describing the Melody toffees as “very, very good,” while thanking PM Modi for the thoughtful gesture.
The “Melodi” hashtag first captured 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 gone viral. Earlier in the day, visuals from a special dinner hosted near the Colosseum in Rome also circulated widely, showing the two leaders sharing a casual interaction and taking selfies together.
