Fifty four African countries will participate in the third India-Africa Forum Summit to be held in New Delhi later this month. The IAFS is expected to result in a deeper engagement between India and Africa.

Today, India and Africa need each other more than ever before. Out of 189 countries, only 63 are expected to grow by 4 per cent and more this year, 36 of which are in Africa. Many African countries there are affected by China’s slowing imports and shrinking trade. India is seen as a fast growing economy.

Does India want to catch up with the much bigger Africa summits that China has organized since 2006? Some experts suggest that India has, in a “too little, too late” fashion, discovered Africa and is making amends through the promise of capacity-building, more aid and duty free access to its market.

Both China and India scramble for sources of oil supply in Africa to fuel their economies. But here, India has lost out heavily to Chinese oil giants. The general perception is that India’s interests in Africa are identical to China’s, that it only wants access to Africa’s vast raw materials and resources.

Indo-African trade was some US$93 billion in 2013. India has signed bilateral trade agreements with more than 20 African countries. India’s private investments in the continent have also surged over a period of time in diverse sectors like telecommunications, information technology, energy and automobiles.

India must forge a new partnership with the continent. India has an advantage over China, the dynamism of its fast-globalising private sector, represented by the likes of Tata Motors, Godrej and Bharti Group.

Its investments must propel African trade into cutting-edge global networks that alter the international division of labour, as argued by Harry Broadman in his book Africa’s Silk Road: China and India’s New Economic Frontier.

Another major advantage is the Indian Diaspora. “India’s linkages with South Africa go back in time – the 1.15 million strong people of India origin arrived between 1860 and 1911 as indentured labour to work as field hands and mill hands in sugar and other plantations and stayed on. In east Africa, the Diaspora’s contribution has been significant in India’s trade as they own distribution channels, manufacturing facilities and even mines. Unfortunately, this potential has not been adequately tapped. India’s growing partnership with Africa must harness the strengths of the Diaspora,” writes economic commentator N. Chandra Mohan.

Indian commitments stand at US$10 billion to infrastructure and other projects since 2008. The Bharti Group has undertaken 11 green-field investments projects in Nigeria and Uganda in 2014, adding to its existing investments in 13 other African countries like Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, The Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda. The Tatas have invested in Algeria. India’s green-field investments in Africa amounted to US$1.1 billion as against US$6 billion of China in 2014, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report for 2015.

Since the second summit in 2011, India has given 25,000 scholarships to African countries. A number of capacity-building institutions are in various stages of implementation. Three vocational centres have been set up in Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda.

India must build on the longstanding history of friendship and cooperation in development. Indo-African relations shouod be based on shared responsibility and helping one another meet their developmental goals. This entails mutual gain, non-interference, collective growth opportunities and indeed an absence of loan conditionalities. All of this strengthens the partnership in capacity-building, education, agriculture, food security, climate change, energy security and so on in a concerted manner.

The manner of India’s engagement reflects its desire to provide comprehensive support for Africa’s development. India Inc is the leading light for closer ties in trade and investment with the fast-growing economies of the continent. It is also a source for reliable and quality medicines and vaccines at affordable rates for large parts of Africa, especially in the battle against AIDS. The cooperation in the field of healthcare has contributed significantly towards Africa’s efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goalss. Post-2015, this partnership will also extend to achieving SDGs.

  Africa, business, economy, India