Some years ago an IFS officer in-charge of the high profile External Publicity division (XP), whose penchant for publicity irked the then Foreign Minister, suddenly found himself posted as the Joint Secretary of the Africa division. Our well-connected diplomat moaned to all those who would hear and all those he considered Delhi’s shakers and movers that it was a humiliation, that he wanted anything else under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) than that. Such was the standing of the Africa division in the MEA till not very long ago.
The perspective on Africa has changed quite a bit since then. India has taken notice of the changes in Africa. It realises that not engaging with Africa with the intensity it deserves, will be economically and politically costly. The MEA now has two full Africa divisions, one for East and Southern Africa and the other for West Africa. Then there is the North Africa in West Asia and North Africa. It was about time too.
Age-Old India-Africa Ties
Indian and African trade is as old as recorded history itself. Arab seafarers joined Indian and African markets, and production centers and a brisk exchange of goods and people ensued. Over the centuries, the merchant kingdoms of Sindh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Konkan and Malabar traded with East African merchant states such as Barawa, Kismayu, Kilwa, Sofala and Mombasa. Consequently the Indian silver rupee, or sikka, became the currency in that sprawling area and kept this status even during the European colonial period.
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India’s modern day bilateral trade with Africa picked up late but has been burgeoning at an exponential pace. It was a relatively modest $1 billion in 1995, but had risen to $35 billion in 2008, and in the three following years it had scaled to $45 billion. This year it is expected to be in the region of $70 billion.
Trade in Numbers
- African exports to India have been growing annually at 32.2 per cent, while Indian exports to Africa grew annually at 23.6 per cent
- Top six African exporters account for 89 per cent of total exports by value to India
- Crude oil and gas account for over 66 per cent of exports by Africa to India
- Gold and other precious metals account for another 16 per cent of export to India
Bilateral Trade
African exports to India have been growing annually at 32.2 per cent, while Indian exports to Africa grew annually at 23.6 per cent. Consequently Africa’s trade surplus with India is rising rapidly, albeit driven in large part by a narrow range of suppliers and commodities. The top six African exporters—Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco—account for 89 per cent of total exports by value to India. Crude oil and gas account for over 66 per cent of exports to India, gold and other precious metals accounting for another 16 per cent, and most of the rest to the import of fertilisers from Morocco, Egypt and Algeria.
India’s total merchandise imports totaled $447.5 billion in 2015. Of this oil imports accounted for $116.4 billion and gold was $34.4 billion. Since 2000 when India’s GDP growth entered a different trajectory and took it to become the world’s third largest economy by purchasing power parity, the country has also emerged as a major consumer of oil and gold. This has contributed to the huge expansion of Indian imports from Africa, particularly with West Africa.
A rapidly growing India not only needs more commodities from Africa, but also needs its vast market to pay for them. Africa is thus a great economic opportunity for India, and rightly India has turned its focus towards enhancing its economic ties with Africa. Just as important is the realisation that as India seeks a more important role in world affairs, it cannot remain indifferent to Africa’s 54 members in the UN.
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Strengthening Relationship with Africa
Conditions for a closer economic and political relationship with African countries are now propitious. But the traditional Indian attitude towards Africa and Africans in particular needs to change. India has always attracted African students, but their treatment here is not conducive for building future good relations by making them ambassadors for India when they return.
We need to create slots in all our elite institutions like the IITs, IIMs, National Law Schools, and even the top undergraduate colleges in our top universities. The MEA will do well to establish an Africa oriented education cell to focus on this.
Our diplomacy in the continent needs to be top class. An Africa posting must no longer be seen as a punishment posting. To make its presence felt in African capitals, India needs to build big and even somewhat imposing embassies in major African nations. Since the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is so reluctant to go to Africa, this presents the government with an opportunity to make lateral entries into the diplomatic service by inducting top class professionals from the private sector, who can be mandated to focus on the expansion of economic relationships. The IFS is also woefully short of talent, and this could very well be the booster shot it needs.
(The author is chairman and founder of Centre for Policy Alternatives)
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