Africa: A crucial frontier for Indias global ambitions

India, which woke up belatedly to Africa's potential as a strategic, economic and diplomatic partner, is now showing urgency in making up for lost time.The third India-Africa Summit in New Delhi in October marked a final break from previous engagements with that continent, which were driven by ideology, non-alignment and anticolonialism.India's new found interest in Africa is driven largely by self interest - Africa is an important market for Indian companies, it is a long term source of raw materials, metals, minerals, uranium and oil and deep defence and strategic ties with African nations on the Indian Ocean coastline is critical for India to retain the Indian Ocean as its sphere of influence.None of this was, of course, openly stated. Instead, Indian officials took pains to explain that India's ties with today's Africa are “neither exploitative nor prescriptive”. Again, the unacknowledged 800 pound gorilla at the summit was the dominating presence of China in Africa.The twin goals of the summit were diplomacy and deeper economic engagement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi summed it up when he said India's relationship with Africa “is driven by the aim of empowerment, capacity building, human resource development, access to the Indian market and support for Indian investments in Africa.”India's engagement with Africa is, therefore, qualitatively different from that continent's ties with the West or with China. Many analysts dub the Chinese presence there “exploitative” - because of its focus on extraction of natural resources to feed its domestic factories - and the western presence hypocritical and prescriptive - because of its insistence of prescribing western standards of accountability even as the West continues to do business with some of the most unrepresentative and venal regimes in the world.India, on the other hand, is steering clear of local politics and, instead, offering to improve healthcare, education, skills development and ecological protection facilities in these nations even as it pursues its economic and strategic interests.There are practical reasons for this. India needs Africa as much as Africa needs India. For one, Africa as a whole has a GDP that is slightly larger than India's and a population that is a little smaller. Then, more than half of Africa's 54 nations have per capita incomes higher than India and several have superior human development indices.Over the last decade, India has gained much ground in Africa. Bilateral trade has soared 700 per cent to $72 billion, but this is still only 36 per cent of China's $200 billion trade with that continent.Riding this rise in bilateral trade, many Indian companies such as the Tata Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Godrej, Bharti Airtel, Somany and Kirloskar have become household names in Africa. Tata cars and Mahindra SUVs along with Made in India vehicles from Japanese and Korean auto giants are a common sight on African roads.In services, dozens of Indian institutions offer skills development and educational programmes to locals across the length and breadth of Africa.But there is much headroom for growth. India now accounts for just 6 per cent of Africa's bilateral trade with the world compared to 17 per cent for China. Indian officials involved with the summit said they hoped to increase bilateral trade volumes to $100 billion within a few years.It is because of these non-exploitative engagements that India enjoys a positive rating across Africa. To cement the country's position as a “preferred partner”, Modi announced a $10 billion line of concessional credit to Africa, $600 million of special assistance and 50,000 scholarships for African students at the summit.In return, India is seeking strategic support of the 54 member African bloc for its bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.The summit, like all multilateral engagements, can only create the right atmosphere. How much and how well and how fast the Indian government and Indian companies follow up bilaterally with individual African nations that will determine the real outcome of the summit.