Africa has been increasingly occupying an important position in India’s foreign policy over the past decade. The continent has always been a crucial component of global geopolitics. Africa’s strategic location overseeing the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea makes it an integral part of the power competition in these regions. Africa also lies at the crossroads of the West and the East, acting as a connecting link. Proximity to Europe and Asia has always been a subject of interest for regional and extra-regional powers. Besides strategic location, an abundance of natural resources also attracts various powers to the continent.

India has shared centuries-old historical ties with Africa. India has also been a strong supporter of the independence of several African nations from colonial rule. Further India and African countries like Egypt, Algeria and Ghana were part of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War era. In the post-Cold War era, as the importance of the Non-Aligned Movement waned Africa too gradually started losing its traction in India’s political discourse.

However, in the past decade, India has made efforts to reach out to the countries and regions with which it had little engagement hitherto. African countries have been among those that have started receiving greater attention from India. In its engagements with the African countries infrastructure development has emerged as an important tool for India.

Aspects of India’s development cooperation

India’s development cooperation in Africa is in the form of trade and investments, concessional loans and grants, capacity-building initiatives and technology transfer.

India is currently Africa’s third-largest trade partner behind the European Union and China. India is the tenth-largest investor in Africa. India’s bilateral trade reached $103 in 2023. India’s cumulative investment in Africa is $75 billion.

India has completed 206 projects in 43 countries with 65 projects being implemented under concessional loans with a total outlay of over $12.37 billion. 81 projects are in the preparatory stage. India’s developmental projects in Africa cover areas like drinking water, irrigation schemes, power plants and transmission lines, cement, sugar, textile plants, technology parks and railway infrastructure.

As per a report by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Indian companies are considering investing between $130 billion to $176 billion in Africa. To date, the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) has offered over 200 Lines of Credit (LOCs) to 42 African countries with a credit value of $12 billion.

India has also been involved in capacity-building programmes in Africa. In the last 10 years, almost 40,000 Africans have been trained under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. India has also provided scholarships to more than 15,000 African students from 22 countries since 2019 to study in India for various courses like computer application, business administration, commerce, social sciences and humanities. Premier Indian institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the National Forensic Science University have opened their campuses in Africa. IIT has a campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania while the National Forensic Science University has a campus in Uganda.

India has also been an active responder to Africa at the time of disasters. During the COVID-19 pandemic when India supplied the COVID vaccine to more than 100 countries under the Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) initiative, 32 of these countries were in Africa.

Challenges for India

Despite the inclusive nature of India’s development initiatives, there are certain challenges for India in Africa. While Africa is among the top priorities for India, the same cannot be said for Africa. To push forward engagements with Africa India established a mechanism the India-Africa Forum Summit in 2008. To date three summits have been held in 2008, 2011 and 2015. The 2015 summit held in New Delhi was the most successful of all the summits as all 54 African countries attended. Post-2015 the progress in this engagement is stalled with no summit held in the last decade. However, during this period, the African Union has had summits with China, Russia, the United States, the European Union, Japan and Türkiye. Both India and the African countries need to engage more frequently for any meaningful progress in their relations.

The way ahead

India has taken several positive steps in engaging with Africa. While championing the cause of the Global South, India has consistently advocated for Africa’s role in world affairs. One of the most important achievements for India was the inclusion of the African Union as a member of the G20 during the New Delhi Summit in 2023. Through this initiative, African countries are now able to share a platform with the world’s top 20 economies.

Developmental and technical cooperation has been the basis of India’s engagements with Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. While these mechanisms are still an integral part of India-Africa relations, the two sides must focus on their youth population and explore ways to benefit together from this demographic dividend which is an advantage over the western countries. India must also continue diversifying its ties in the areas of economic cooperation and concentrate on increasing bilateral trade and investments. Further India has increased its diplomatic presence in Africa by opening 16 new diplomatic missions in the past few years. Now India has missions in 45 African countries.

Africa constantly witnesses internal conflict and geopolitical competition among major external powers like the United States, Russia and China. Amid this scenario, India’s non-interfering approach coupled with providing equitable benefits through developmental partnerships could gain confidence and favour among the African countries. It would lead to India increasing its footprint in Africa and stronger ties between India and Africa.