Views, predominantly held by Western opinion leaders, suggest that investment in Africa by India represents the apex of competition between India and China, while another argument suggests that it is part of a scramble for Africa’s resources.

However, India’s Ministry of External Affairs’ joint secretary for East and Southern Africa, Gurjit Singh, says that Africa is a an ‘immense land of opportunities’ and is not only about commodities. He adds that the demand for resources in India is overstated, and that India is strongly focused on human skills development in India and Africa.

The India–Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), which will see India investing about $5,4-billion in lines of credit and $500-million in human resources development during a five-year period, is gaining momentum as a platform for building relationships as the world’s second-largest emerging economy also plans to establish 21 institutions in Africa.

Areas of focus for the diversified institutes that will be established will include vocational training, foreign trade, human settlement, information technology, an Indian Africa Diamond Institute (IADI), in Botswana, and an Apex Planning Organisation (APO) for the coal industry in the Southern African Development Community, in Mozambique.

The implementing agency for the IADI is Indian Diamond Institute Surat, and Coal India and the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute for the APO for the coal industry.

The implementing agencies have already started working on these institutes, with Indian teams already visiting countries and working on the projects, Singh says. “We are now in a process to start implementing these projects.”

He also emphasises that the IAFS aims to strengthen cooperation in key areas that include economics, politics, science, technology, research and development, social development, capacity building, tourism, infrastructure and energy – that would further support existing bilateral cooperation between India and African countries.

Meanwhile, as India’s energy security challenge continues, the country aims to expand its domestic availability of petroleum, gas and coal.

While India’s coal industry is nationalised, private-sector investment is allowed in captive coal mines, which are coal mines linked to power, steel or cement plants. India’s Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia says that this exception is an important window of flexibility and has led to sufficient investment in captive coal mines.

“The case for moving away from nationalisation and allowing private investment in noncaptive mining is strong, though there are political sensitivities. Expanding coal production in the future is also affected by the fact that much of India’s coal reserves lie in forested areas, where there are environmental limits on mining.

“Efforts are being made to reconcile these conflicting objectives in a rational manner. India is actively following a policy of investing in coal and oil assets abroad,” he said during the K R Narayanan Oration at the Australian National University, in Canberra, last year.

A new law governing India’s mining sector is under consideration and aims to establish a more transparent regime for assigning mining leases, with a fairer system of compensation for those displaced, he says.

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