INDIA-AFRICA

INDIA-AFRICA

Current Relations

1. Economic:
   • Trade Relations: India is Africa’s fourth-largest trading partner and third-largest export destination.
   • Bilateral Trade: In 2020-21, trade between India and Africa was approximately $28 billion.
   • Line of Credit (LOC): India has provided over $10 billion in credit for various projects across 41 African countries.
   • Key Markets: India’s top African markets are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and Togo.
   • Exports from India: Major exports include processed petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, and vehicles.
   • Imports from Africa: Predominantly mineral fuels and oils, accounting for over 77% of imports from Africa.
2. Political:
   • High-Level Visits: There have been numerous visits by Indian leaders to Africa, enhancing diplomatic ties.
   • New Missions: India has opened 18 new diplomatic missions in Africa from 2018-2021.
   • India-Africa Forum Summit: India has engaged with the African Union through the Pan African India Platform.
3. Security:
   • Peacekeeping: Around 6,000 Indian soldiers are involved in UN peacekeeping missions across Africa.
   • Military Training: India is involved in capacity-building for African military officers, which strengthens defense relations.
   • AFINDEX-19: Africa-India conducted a joint field training exercise to boost defense cooperation.

1. Cultural:
   • India Ideals Influence: India’s principles, such as Gandhian non-violence and secularism, serve as models for African nations.

• People-to-People Contact:
  • Diaspora: Over three million people of Indian origin reside in Africa.
  • Scholarships: Africa receives 40% of India’s training and capacity-building slots under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Program. India grants 50,000 scholarships to African students annually.

1. Social:
   • Self-Help Groups: Initiatives like Kudumbashree from Kerala empower women and alleviate poverty in African countries like Ethiopia and South Africa.
   • Digital Cooperation (PAeN): The Pan African e-Network (PAeN) project facilitates e-learning (e-VidyaBharati) and telemedicine (e-ArogyaBharati), promoting educational and medical outreach since 2004.

Importance of Africa for India

1. Geostrategic:
   • Security: Africa is crucial for India’s security, particularly the Horn of Africa, due to proximity and threats from radicalism and piracy.
   • Energy Diversification: Africa can diversify India’s energy supply away from the Middle East.
2. Economic:
   • Growth Pole: Africa is emerging as a growth hub with nations like Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania showing high growth.
   • Potential Market: Africa’s population exceeds a billion with a GDP over $2.5 trillion, offering a vast market.
   • Resource Wealth: Africa’s abundance of natural resources (oil, gas, metals) can support India’s needs.
   • Agriculture: Africa’s vast agricultural land can mitigate India’s arable land deficit.

1. Geopolitical:
   • UNSC Support: Africa’s support is key for India’s permanent UN Security Council aspirations.
   • Soft and Hard Power Display: Africa serves as a platform for India to exhibit its influence.

Significance of India-Africa Relations

1. Historical foreign policy linkages: India’s foreign policy ideas after Independence impacted African decolonisation movements.
   • Bandung conference: India’s role in organising the 1955 Bandung conference marked the first time that Asian and African countries came together to denounce imperialism and colonialism.
   • NAM: With the subsequent pioneering of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), India established many links to African nations.
   • Strong people-to-people connection: Historically, Indian traders travelled regularly to the East African coast, forming relationships with local inhabitants in ports leading to the establishment of Africa-based family businesses, some of which exist even today.
2. Strategic
   • Battling Chinese influence: Because of the social capital India has in Africa, acquired through the historical, political, economic and people-to-people ties, its presence is welcomed by African
   • Resurging Africa and rising India: It can give a strong impetus to South-South Cooperation, especially in areas like clean technology, climate-resilient agriculture, maritime security, connectivity, and Blue economy.
   • Cooperation to tackle terrorism: India strongly advocated stepped-up cooperation through intelligence exchange and training with 54 African countries.
   • Climate cooperation: Cooperation on climate change between India and Africa, both who had “contributed the least to global warming”.
   • Open and free Oceans: India aims to enhance cooperation with African countries in order to keep the oceans open and free for the benefit of all nations.
   • Policy congruence: Complemented by India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and SAGARMALA (port development) initiatives, the AAGC (Asia Africa Growth Corridor), with Africa being an equal partner, can potentially be a game-changer in the IOR.

1. Security
   • India and Africa Maritime strategy: Indian Navy’s 2015 Maritime Strategy document and the African Union’s 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS 2050) aim for a free and open Indian ocean.
   • Non-traditional threats: Addressing non-traditional threats in the IOR and Higher incidences of natural disasters and regional instabilities in the past decade have necessitated increased deployment of Indian Navy for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations.
   • Peacekeeping: India has been actively involved in peace and stability of African countries through UN Peace keeping operations. India is involved in capacity building of African countries. Africa is also the largest beneficiary of India’s ITEC programme.
2. Economy
   • Increase in bilateral trade: Indian government initiatives like Focus Africa (2002), TEAM-9 (2004), Duty-Free Tariff Preference Scheme for Least Developed Countries (2008), and the institution of the India Africa Forum Summit (held in 2008, 2011, 2015), have succeeded in lifting bilateral trade and investment flows to new heights
   • 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.
   • Further cooperation for trade growth: Indian-African synergies can be used for expanding sectors like tourism, banking, telecommunications, manufacturing and agriculture.
   • Capacity building programme: India is investing in capacity building providing more than $1 billion in technical assistance and training to personnel under the IndianTechnical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program.
   • Africa growth corridor: India has also unveiled the Vision Document of the Asian Africa Growth Corridor which is jointly prepared by Indian and Japanese think tanks.
   • Development is the priority: 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.
3. International
   • Convergence of interest in WTO: India and Africa are aligned on the outstanding issues at the WTO and are in favor of multilateral trading systems.
     • For example: At the Bali Ministerial in 2013 too, Africa and India had united in seeking an interim mechanism for safeguarding minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is found and adopted.

• New Global Order: The institutions of global governance that were created after the Second World War, like the UN, IMF, and WTO, failed to adapt to the changing global scenario and adequately represent the voice of the developing world.
• Cooperation in UN: India—the world’s largest democracy representing one-sixth of humanity, and Africa — with more than a quarter of UN members, cannot be kept out of the decision-making table. 

1. Social
   • 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.
   • Social security: Indian congruence with African countries in the agriculture sector is most important. It will also provide opportunities to farmers of Africa to increase income, productivity and generate employment.
     • For example: With 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, employing over 60% of the workforce, and accounting for almost 20% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, agriculture is critical to Africa’s economy.

Challenges

1. From Indian Side
   • Lack of coordinated policy: With government institutions and businesses working in separate silos, India has no coordinated Africa policy nor does there seem to be an avenue where the strengths of both actors can be leveraged.
   • Shift of focus: Geopolitical tensions in Asia and the imperative to consolidate its position in the Indo-Pacific region have compelled India to deviate from India-Africa relations.
     • For example: Instead, India concentrated on its ties with the United Kingdom, the EU, and the Quad powers, particularly the U.S.
   • Pending summits: The third India-Africa Forum Summit was held in 2015. The fourth summit, pending since last year. The summit is not even pushed in a virtual format.
   • Conflicts in the region: Ethnic and religious conflicts and governance issues in some countries make foreign contributors averse to venture in the region.
   • Financial limitations of India: India cannot compete with China or the U.S. Some of the African countries, even the richer ones like Nigeria, expect India to invest in Africa under the India Africa Forum Summit. However, India asserts for joint endeavor for better development.
   • For example: Asia Africa growth Corridor.
   • Attack on Africans in India: India will have to make efforts to make African nationals feel welcome.

• Impact of COVID-19 in Africa: The latest economic data confirms India’s exports and imports have reduced 4.4% and 25% respectively in 2020-21 compared to the previous year.

1. From African Side
   • Poverty and underdevelopment: The WB’s Africa’s Pulse, a biannual analysis of the near-term macroeconomic outlook for the region, in its report, assessed that the COVID-19 outbreak has sparked off the Sub-Saharan Africa region’s first recession in 25 years.
   • Disinflation: The steep decline in commodity prices has spelt disaster for the economies of Nigeria, Zambia and Angola.
   • Health crisis: With high rates of HIV, malaria, diabetes, hypertension and malnourishment prevalent, a large number of Africans were already faced with a health and economic crisis.
   • Increasing Public debt: According to the World Bank, the SSA region paid $35.8 billion in total debt service in 2018, 2.1 percent of regional gross domestic product (GDP).
   • Terrorism in Africa: There has been an extraordinary increase in terrorist attacks by extremists connected to al-Qaida and ISIS across Africa over the recent years.

1. From China Side
   • China’s presence: 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 Chinesegrowing influence in the continent.
   • Dominance of China with deep pockets: India and China are competing with each other to build a stronger relationship with Africa. China even built up its first overseas military base in Djibouti.
   • Chinese infrastructure projects: It famously built the 1,860 km Tanzania-Zambia railway line in 1975, and the Addis Ababa-Djibouti and Mombasa-Nairobi lines more recently, China is now eyeing to develop the vast East Africa Master Railway Plan.
     • For example: It is also developing the Trans-Maghreb Highway, the Mambilla Hydropower Plant in Nigeria, the Walvis Bay Container Terminal in Windhoek and the Caculo Cabaca Hydropower project in Angola.
   • China’s predatory and exploitative engagement with Africa: Its annual trade with Africa in 2019 stood at $208 billion, in addition to investments and loans worth $200 billion.

Way Forward

• India, as a Balancer: China has been actively pursuing chequebook and donation diplomacy in Africa. However, Chinese investment is seen as neo-colonial in nature. India’s approach, on the other hand, is one that focuses on building local capacities and an equal partnership with Africans and not merely with African elites concerned.
• Enabling strategic convergence: Both India and Japan share a common interest in forging a partnership for Africa’s development through the Asia-Africa Growth corridor. In this context, India can leverage its global status to establish Africa on the strategic mapof global politics.
• Deliver on ground: New Delhi will need to start delivering on the ground if the India-Africa partnership has to move beyond high level visits.
• Joint projects: 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.
• Becoming voice of developing world: Just as India and Africa fought colonialism together, both can now collaborate together for a just, representative and democratic global order that has a voice for around one-third of humanity that lives in Africa and India.
• Preventing global rivalries: In recent years, several global economic players have strengthened their engagement with African states, with an eye to rising economic opportunities, including in energy, mining, infrastructure and connectivity.

• Focus on 10 Guiding Principles for India-Africa engagement, as articulated by PM during his 2019 Uganda visit:
  • Africa will be at the top of our priorities.
  • Our development partnership will be guided by your priorities. We will build as much local capacity and create local opportunities as possible.
  • We will keep our markets open and make it easier and more attractive to trade with India.
  • We will harness India’s experience with the digital revolution to support Africa’s development; improve delivery of public services; extend education and health; spread digital literacy; expand financial inclusion; and mainstream the marginalised.
  • Africa has 60 percent of the world’s arable land, but produces just 10 percent of the global output. We will work with you to improve Africa’s agriculture.
  • Our partnership will address the challenges of climate change.

• We will strengthen our cooperation and mutual capabilities in combating terrorism and extremism; keeping our cyberspace safe and secure; and, supporting the UN in advancing and keeping peace.
• We will work with African nations to keep the oceans open and free for the benefit of all nations. The world needs cooperation and competition in the eastern shores of Africa and the eastern Indian Ocean.
• As global engagement in Africa increases, we must all work together to ensure that Africa does not once again turn into a theatre of rival ambitions, but becomes a nursery for the aspirations of Africa’s youth.
• Just as India and Africa fought colonialism together, we will work together for a just, representative and democratic global order that has a voice for one-third of humanity that lives in Africa and India.