IDR Blog

India’s Africa Strategy and the Policy Trends
Star Rating Loader Please wait...
Dr Mohammed Badrul Alam | Date:25 Mar , 2016 0 Comments
Dr Mohammed Badrul Alam
is Professor, Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

Africa is a region where India, like others (China, USA and Japan, etc) is engaging with full steam, or to put in alternate words, the race for Africa is underway in a robust way. In the past, the colonial countries plundered Africa for its natural resources. The goings-on were referred to as the ‘scramble for Africa’. That was the period when European countries enforced every means, straightforward or untoward, to fructify their expansionist policies in Africa. This time the new major entrants in Africa are from Asia – India, China and Japan. 

However, the uniqueness of India’s engagement lies in the ‘means’ being applied, through basically ‘Soft power’ as a power of ‘attraction’  – the end being constant supply of raw materials and a market for their expanding economy. And by the use of soft power means it has been evidenced that  India is faring much better than those countries who wish to get things going their way by the ‘coercive’ use of ‘hard power’ only. The African countries have now visualized engaging comfortably with India than with its Western and Chinese counterparts.

India and Africa’s partnership over the years have improved considerably as is evident from the various forms of engagement: ranging from improved political relations as a consequence of flourishing trade and investment relations; enhanced diplomatic ties; India’s continuous participation in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa and diversified initiatives to increase cooperation in the fields of Information Technology, Agriculture, Health, Education, Culture and Tourism. Some of these one-on-one engagements are discussed in the following paragraphs.

India-Africa trade has followed an upward trend. India’s current trade, at the end of 2015, with Africa stands at around US $ 75 billion and it has granted some US $ 7.4 billion for various developmental and capacity-building projects in the past four years. India has implemented a total of 137 projects in 41 African countries. The value of bilateral trade has jumped from US $ 5.3 billion in 2001 to US $ 12 billion in 2005 to US $ 75 billion in 2015. At this current rate of growth bilateral trade could grow substantially by 2020 if annualized growth rates between 2001 and 2015 continue.

Investments by Indian firms (both public and private) in Arica have been an essential feature of Indo-African economic relationship. With the introduction of economic liberalization in the early 1990s, the government of India has lifted regulations and controls to allow private firms to go abroad. To facilitate this policy the government has also removed the $ 100 million cap on foreign investment by Indian firms. As a result, the big Indian corporate houses such as the Tatas, Essar, Vedanta, and Kirloskar have invested heavily in Africa.

The Tata Group has invested about US $ 100 million and plans to triple that amount in near future. Additionally, the Group claims to have employed over 700 people in Africa. Similarly, the other Indian Multinational Enterprises’ (MNEs) too have made their presence felt in Africa. The areas of their engagement involve sectors such as energy, mining, telecommunications, IT-enabled services and etcetera. Likewise, African Multinational Enterprises’ too, particularly from South Africa, have ventured into India over the past decade with their presence being felt in infrastructure development, breweries, financial and insurance services.

Additionally, a key driver for India’s engagement in Africa has been its need to expand and diversify international sources of crude oil data holding true that African countries hold 8% of the world’s oil reserves. Consequently, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Ltd (OVL) of India has been pursuing opportunities in Africa. OVL now has a part to play in South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and many other countries of Africa. India now imports about one-fourth of its oil from Africa to fulfill its energy needs.

Acknowledging Africa’s importance, India has in recent years strengthened diplomatic ties with Africa. This is evident from the fact that, until 2003, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had only one joint secretary responsible for the entire African division.

Today however, for diplomatic convenience India has divided the entire African division into three regional sub-divisions, which have been manned by three joint secretaries.

The two regions have further enhanced their diplomatic ties with the initiation of ‘India-Africa Forum Summit’ in 2008 and the recently held summit in October 2015. Today, India has over 33 Embassies and High Commissions in Africa. This diplomatic effort has already paid off, as was evident in 2006 when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had supported India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and has continued to voice this support in other forums as well.

India has continuously played a major role in UN Peacekeeping Operations around the world and Africa is one dominant recipient of Indian peace-keepers, who are active in various UN operations in the continent. India’s major aim in such participation has been humanitarian concerns, promotion of world peace, providing a helping hand to its African counterparts and to a larger extent safeguard of its national interest, in so far as it succeeds in establishing better ties with the recipient countries and in turn receives access to its resources and market.

Some of the missions in Africa, where the Indian forces have been or are involved, are in Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Angola, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo not to mention many observer missions. India is the largest force contributor to the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Today, India and Africa are involved extensively in various forms of cultural exchange programmes and very often one finds Indian festivals being celebrated in various African countries with zeal and vigor. Additionally, one also finds that the inbound and outbound flow of students have increased between the two regions.

On the whole, public diplomacy is at its peak and soft power is playing its role in furthering the mutual interest of the two regions. In the recent years, numerous initiatives have been undertaken, so as to reinforce the tie-up between the two regions. To name a few- Focus Africa Programme; Techno–Economic Approach for Africa and India Movement; Pan–Africa e–Network Project; Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme; Special Commonwealth Africa Assistance Plan; India Africa Trade ministers Dialogue; India–Africa Forum Summit (2008), 2nd India–Africa Forum Summit (2011) and India-Africa Forum summit 2015, etc.

Also, giving strength to the government of India and its private companies in Africa are the People of Indian Origin (PIO) and Indian diaspora, who have made their robust presence in Africa. On the whole, India’s engagement with Africa has been one that can be described as one of ‘win-win’ proposition for both the regions. It is hoped that this upswing in the relationship is likely to grow further in the foreseeable future in spite of intense competition from countries such as China, Japan and other western powers.

Courtesy: http://www.claws.in/1539/indias-africa-strategy-and-the-policy-trends-dr-mohammed-badrul-alam.html

Rate this Article
Star Rating Loader Please wait...
The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

Post your Comment

2000characters left