INDIA-AFRICA NOTES

 Political connection during the colonial era was linked through M.K Gandhi who began his
political career in South Africa, became the leader of colonized and established Indian Natal
Congress in 1894.

 After India got independent, it raised voice for African liberation taking their case to all the
available international forums. End of racial struggle and decolonization became the rallying
point of India–Africa relations.

 India was a forerunner as a champion of the interests of the developing countries from Africa,
particularly through the Bandung Declaration of 1955, the Group of 77, and the Non Aligned
Movement (NAM).

 India’s policy of NAM provided the world with the third front at the time of heightened cold
war rivalry between US and USSR, where African nations acted as the strengthening factor.

 A large chunk of Indian diaspora continues to live in African countries such as Kenya, Uganda,
Mauritius, and Nigeria.

 It is this sense of solidarity, mutual trust and confidence born in the difficult days of the Cold
War which continues to drive India-Africa cooperation to this day.

Importance of Africa
 Africa is home to over half a dozen of the fastest growing countries of this decade such as
Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania etc. making it one of the growth pole of the world.

 Real GDP in Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade has grown by more than
twice the rate in 1980s and 90's.

 African continent has a population of over one billion with a combined GDP of 2.5 trillion
dollars making it a huge potential market.

 Africa is a resource rich nation dominated by commodities like crude oil, gas, pulses and
lentils, leather, gold and other metals, all of which India lack in sufficient quantities.

 India is seeking diversification of its oil supplies away from the Middle East and Africa can
play an important role in India’s energy matrix.

India in Africa
 Engagement at all levels with African countries has increased in the last two decades with a
large number of public and private sector companies from India investing in Africa.

 India’s duty-free tariff preferential scheme for Least Developed Nation (LDCs) launched in
2008 has benefited 33 African states.

 India’s engagement with African nations remains at three levels: Bilateral, Regional and
Multilateral.

 Multilateral engagement was launched with the first India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in
2008.

1
India is investing in capacity building providing more than $1 billion in technical assistance and
NOTES
training to personnel under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program.

 As a full member of African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), India has pledged $1
million towards ACBF’s sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and capacity building
initiative.

 India has invested $100 million in the Pan-African E-Network to bridge the digital divide in
Africa, leveraging its strengths in information technology.

 Indian military academies offer training to military officers from a number of African
states.

 India has also unveiled the Vision Document of the Asian Africa Growth Corridor which is
jointly prepared by Indian and Japanese think tanks.

 The corridor will focus on Developing Cooperation Projects, Quality Infrastructure and
Institutional Connectivity, skill enhancement, and People-to-People Partnership.

 India postulates that its partnership with Africa is an amalgam of development priorities in
keeping with the African Union’s long term plan and the Africa Agenda 2063, as well as
India’s development objectives.

Areas of Cooperation
 Trade – Indian-African synergies can be used for expanding sectors like tourism, banking,
telecommunications, manufacturing and agriculture.

 Security – Being the littoral states in the Indian Ocean, they can work towards establishing
mechanisms to deal with threats to regional security including terrorism and piracy.

 Capacity Building – Africa’s expectation from India in the field of public health goes beyond
just the supply of affordable medicine to cover assistance in developing the continent’s
public health services capacities.

 Maritime Cooperation – development of blue economy and renewable energy for the
continent’s growth can be realized by Indian experience and the expertise to develop and
manage the maritime resources.

 Food Security – India and Africa face similar challenges in regards to hunger and
undernutrition. Importing food grains from African nations will address nation’s food
security problem.

 It will also provide opportunities to farmers of Africa to increase income, productivity and
generate employment.

Challenges
 Ethnic and religious conflicts and governance issues in some countries make foreign
contributors aversive to venture in the region.

 India’s substantive presence in Africa has remained marginal as it focused on its own
periphery through much of the Cold War period which limited its capabilities.

 Since the end of the Cold War China’s presence has grown in Africa, who has been providing
soft loans to African states which has resulted in Chinese growing influence in the continent.

2
 With government institutions and businesses working in separate silos, India has no
NOTES
coordinated Africa policy nor does there seem to be an avenue where the strengths of both
actors can be leveraged.

Way Forward
 New Delhi will need to start delivering on the ground if the India-Africa partnership has to
move beyond high level visits.

 Indian investments in Africa need to expand and diversify towards ‘broad’ range and not
remain restricted to traditional sectors of investments.

 In order to keep the momentum of building political and economic ties with this increasingly
important region, steps should be taken towards tailoring and funding joint projects for the
sustainable development of the Africa.