A huge chunk of the Indian population was brought into Africa during the colonial period as part of the human resource to provide cheap labor in the building of the railway in East Africa and also work on sugar plantations in Mauritius, Southern Africa and Madagascar. The present-day Indian population in Africa traces its roots to this developments.
The desire to fight colonization was a key factor that gave rise to the India-Africa relations, as an independent India helped African countries to secure their independence. Great Indian leaders; Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were pivotal in fighting the apartheid regime in South Africa.
India and Africa make up one-third of the global population and a greater percentage is the youth and this makes them pivotal players in shaping the global youth agenda in the 21st Century.
India is currently Africa’s second largest trade partner from the Asian continent after China. In 2014, the bilateral India-Africa trade was worth $46 billion and was projected to hit $70 billion by the end of 2015, with major trading in gold, pharmaceutical, diamonds and information technology. India is also the biggest investor in Africa from the developing world and bilateral trade between India and Africa was worth $36 billion and in 2014, it was anticipated to hit $75 billion in 2015.
In 2008, India adopted legal changes in her bilateral relations with Africa and introduced duty free access to her markets for African nations, especially the Least Developed nations and since then, 34 nations have benefited. There have been talks for the establishment of free trade agreements between India and Africa.
India has engaged in a hands-off approach with African countries in her relations and has steered clear of African sovereignty and political models, the West whose relations with the continent are as much political control as they are economic.
India has actively sought to be the voice for the developing world at the international level and as such, Africa has supported New Delhi’s bid for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.
Since 1960s, India has sent agricultural experts to Africa and offered agricultural scholarships to Africans. This is in order to boost Africa’s meagre 10 percent of the global food basket despite having 60 percent of the arable land globally.
