New Delhi focuses on human development while Beijing focuses on infrastructure
India takes a different approach to China in Africa
The interests of India and China differ in the brown continent.
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Narendra Modi outlined 10 principles for India's investment in Africa.
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India-Africa Forum Summit in October 2015. Archive
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Despite dealing with growing challenges at home, India and South Africa have defended the revocation of vaccine patents at the World Trade Organization, to increase the capacity of developing countries to manufacture coronavirus vaccines and medical products.
In order to find a lasting solution to the pandemic, India and South Africa's proposal has now received support from the United States, after months of hesitation on the part of the Biden administration.
Since the achievement of independence, India has consistently supported the liberation struggles against colonialism and racism in Africa, and while the previous relationship was built on the legacy of colonialism, the wave of liberalization and privatization in India during the 1990s led to a decisive shift in its commercial engagement in Africa.
Despite the strong engagement of more than 70 years, India has never had any clear, long-term strategy for developing broader relations with the continent.
New Delhi has often failed to capitalize on the good reputation it enjoys there, but that could change.
With ideological and political issues occupying an important place, economic and security relations have finally contributed to spreading new strength in the relationship.
The most notable example of this is the creation of the India-Africa Forum Summit, which helped institutionalize and formalize India's relations with its African partners.
So far, three summits have been held (in 2008, 2011 and 2015), which have provided India and African countries with a platform for constructive cooperation.
The fourth session, which was postponed due to the pandemic, is expected to be held in Mauritania later this year.
10 guidelines
Another important milestone was the 10 guiding principles for India's investment in Africa, set out during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech to the Ugandan Parliament in July 2018. These pillars reflect a change in India's priorities. For example, both Indian officials and businessmen have consistently emphasized India's desire for its partnerships to be inclusive, people-centred, sustainable, transparent, and driven by African needs and priorities. These principles form the basis of a coherent and comprehensive strategy. Added to this are security concerns. India considers African countries, especially those with coasts on the Indian Ocean, an important part of its strategy in the Indo-Pacific. India shares a rich history of maritime trade with these countries, in particular, and has signed defense and shipping agreements with many of them.
Over the past two decades, African countries, along with those in India's immediate neighbourhood, have been the focus of much of New Delhi's development assistance, through concessional credit schemes, grants, and capacity building initiatives.
Unlike lending from China, and even from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, India's credit schemes are demand-driven, transparent, and unconditional.
From 2002 until February of this year, India provided a cumulative concession of $11 billion to the continent.
This is accompanied by hundreds of millions in aid grants and scholarships for African students.
The trade and investment partnership has also grown in recent years.
Indo-African trade grew from $51.7 billion in 2011 to $66.7 billion in 2020. During the same period, Africa's exports to India increased by nearly $5 billion.
The battle against "Corona"
In addition to loans and investments, India has also helped Africa in its fight against the Corona pandemic.
New Delhi has given 25 African countries 150 tons of medical aid.
As part of a vaccine supply initiative, India has provided 24.7 million doses of locally made vaccines as grants, commercial supplies and supplies to 42 countries in Africa.
Although these supplies are temporarily suspended, the Indian Serum Institute expects to resume exports of AstraZeneca doses, this summer.
While these developments point to the increasing alignment of India's growth agenda with Africa's Agenda 2063, it is important to recognize that India is only one among a long list of development partners looking to meaningfully engage Africa.
Among these competitors is China, which has emerged as Africa's leading trading and investment partner.
As China and India attempt to craft their bilateral and regional approaches independently of each other, the element of competition is evident.
Beijing has thrown its enormous economic weight in developing manufacturing capacity and extracting natural resources, while New Delhi has focused on its core competencies in human resource development, information technology, education and health care.
There is no doubt that China's quest to build infrastructure across the continent has been welcomed.
However, mega-infrastructure projects will not have the desired transformative effects, unless they are able to create jobs, generate revenue, attract investments, and contribute to the development of local productive capacities.
However, Chinese companies are often accused of hiring mostly Chinese workers and providing little training and skills development for African employees.
Facilitating community participation and development
Consequently, some infrastructure projects are in danger of becoming economically unviable. Here, India is trying to play an important role. In contrast to China's efforts, building and financing Indian projects in Africa aims to facilitate community participation and development. Indian companies rely more on African talent, and India has some other advantages over China as well. The successes of the Chinese political and economic model are attractive, but popular support for democracy in Africa is high, according to opinion polls.
India is exploiting its strengths by projecting itself as a different model from China. In addition, India has the added advantage of linguistic and cultural closeness and geographical proximity. While Mandarin is slowly spreading among younger generations, English is still more widely spoken across Africa and India as well, and this makes it much easier for Indian contractors and workers to converse with local partners. In addition, the Indian diaspora in Africa, numbering more than three million, was a critical strategic asset to bridge the gap between the two geographical regions. Both India and China have increasing stakes in Africa, as they seek to benefit from the continent's growth.
New Delhi hopes that its continued cooperation with African countries, over the past years, will lead to political benefits.
For both India and its African partners, if cooperation pays off, it could mean a relationship based on the partnership model.
As the rift in major powers intensifies across the globe, India's growing investment in Africa may be able to bring more equitable benefits to both partners.
• Despite the strong engagement of more than 70 years, India has never had any clear and long-term strategy to develop broader relations with the continent. New Delhi often fails to capitalize on the good reputation it enjoys there.
• The commercial and investment partnership has grown in recent years. Indo-African trade grew from $51.7 billion in 2011 to $66.7 billion in 2020. During the same period, Africa's exports to India increased by nearly $5 billion.
• In addition to loans and investments, India has also helped Africa in its fight against the Corona pandemic. New Delhi has given 25 African countries 150 tons of medical aid.
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