India runs the severe risk of losing Africa to China despite historical ties and the success of Indian companies. We need to step up investment, particularly in western Africa
When Indians think of Africa, they tend to relate to the few cricket-playing nations on the continent, South Africa and Zimbabwe, with Arab North Africa seen as an extension of the Arabian peninsula. And while Indian companies such as Airtel, Bajaj Auto and Godrej have huge investments and market presence across its vast territories, a persistent and latent racism has tended to make most Indians blithely ignore Africa, casting most of the large African community in several major Indian cities as “Nigerians.”
This is particularly bizarre given the age-old trading links that India has had with Africa. Consider our ties in the post-colonial era, where the Indian independence movement was seen as a template for similar movements across the continent, Idi Amin notwithstanding. The successful Indian trading communities across Africa have established our people-to-people bonds as some of the tightest. This is evidenced by the fact that thousands of African students travel to India and enrol in a whole variety of courses for their higher education.
Not only do we need to drastically change our attitude towards people, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, but we should look at exploring new commercial and business ventures in Africa, too. This is important for several reasons, the first being the market opportunity. As the companies mentioned above have proven, Indian products and services honed in the crucible of the domestic market can do spectacularly well in Africa.
The success of multiple Indian two-wheeler companies in Africa is ample proof of that, where despite facing intense competition from cheap Chinese products, Indian brands such as Bajaj and TVS dominate the market thanks to their superior build quality and performance. This, and the experience of Airtel, teach us that the African consumer does not want cheap, hand-me-down products and services but strives for high-quality goods. And on that front, India can deliver.
More importantly, India runs the severe risk of losing Africa to China despite historical ties and the success of Indian companies. China’s vice-like grip on Africa’s resources built by its bankruptcy-inducing Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) should be worrying for India’s policy-makers. And while New Delhi has for years tried to counter the deep Chinese inroads into Africa, starting with the India-Africa Summits begun under the Manmohan Singh administration, there are few achievements to be marked.
While Bollywood and Indian television serials are still staple entertainment in Africa, even non-English speaking nations think of India’s relationship with Africa as a Bollywood script. India is the well-meaning albeit not-so-well-off friend, who wants the best for Africa, whereas China is the brash, rich boyfriend whose lust, not love, is the reason he covets Africa.
However, if we in India want the script to end the way a Bollywood film with such a storyline usually ends, where the girl chooses the well-meaning and earnest boy rather than the brash bully who will not stop at anything to satisfy his desire, then India will have to step up to the plate slightly.
Whether we like it or not, India cannot afford to lose Africa completely to the Chinese, particularly in these strained geopolitical times. One way to do so is for the Government to encourage more investments in Africa and financing that should crucially not be seen by the citizenry in recipient nations as extractionary.
India has a distinct advantage over China in this regard, thanks to old trade ties. Indians from across the country, but particularly trading communities such as Gujaratis, have assimilated into African society. The Chinese, while they ensure that they grease the hands of the correct bureaucrat and politician in most African nations, are seen in a more negative light by the general population. An increased investment focus, whether it is building Information Technology hubs, or in manufacturing, from assembly of automobiles and two-wheelers to large-scale textiles and component manufacturing, will make Indian companies seem extremely attractive investors. Not just resource-hungry neo-colonialists that the Chinese are increasingly becoming.
Not only does investing in African countries offer a pathway to addressing a continent of 54 recognised nations with a population of 1.2 billion, but open up attractive trade pathways to Europe as well as Latin and South America, which are also attractive markets for Indian companies.
Even though the current pandemic has put a pause to global connectivity, the aviation and shipping boom has meant that transportation links have improved and increased tremendously over the past decade.
One part of Africa that usually gets ignored in the conversation is West-Central Africa. With the massive population base of Nigeria and the size of the Congo, nations like Benin & Cote D’ivoire, Ghana and Togo get lost. Yet these small nations, carved into existence by the insane logic of colonial mapmakers, offer huge opportunities for even smaller Indian companies.
Take Togo for example, a tiny nation that spans just 115 kilometres at its widest, created when German West Africa was carved up by the British and French following World War I and whose size is akin to Uttarakhand. It has a population of slightly over eight million but thanks to the rich soil, the nation is not just self-sufficient in food production but also an exporter of agricultural produce, particularly cocoa beans.
The soil and weather will allow for huge opportunities for even smaller Indian agritech firms to invest in growing plants like cotton and then adding to the value chain by creating textile plants and more. African nations have preferential access to several developed markets across Europe and North America. While the nations have not managed to create the entrepreneurial growth due to the unfortunate legacies of colonialism and poverty, this is an ideal entry point for small and medium-sized Indian companies as well as larger ones to branch out. They would not just address the African market but also the global market.
And one crucial lesson that Indian firms must learn from the success of Bajaj Auto in particular is that the African consumer is not one that is desperate for “cheap” goods’ he wants high-quality affordable goods. Several industries in India have become very good in doing just that, from our motorcycles to our consumer durables.
Our extensive diplomatic and commercial networks in Africa might have been overtaken in the recent past by China but India’s presence in Africa is not small. Our increased participation will also suit the best interests of the European Union and the US, who are wary of China’s increased meddling in African affairs, and rightly so. The Chinese were, of course, not so recently caught spying on the headquarters of the African Union through the telecommunications equipment that they installed there.
Africa should be seen as the pathway for Indian firms to become global players. We should use our good graces with African nations to build up ourselves globally. We in India have proven that we can compete in Africa with our products and we should now compete with our companies, creating jobs and opportunities for Africa’s young population. The benefits of this will also come to India as more jobs and options will thus be created for our youth as well, both here and on the continent. Increased personal ties will help in quelling some of the negativity in our cities; a few bad apples should not be allowed to ruin the relationship. Our partnership with Africa should be seen as a win-win for all.
(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)
