India South Africa Trade

Economic Relations and Investments

• India-South Africa has completed a meaningful bilateral relationship for 30 years. Both nations have been the other's staunchest supporters and closest allies in fostering reciprocal growth.
• So far, India’s cumulative investments in Africa stand at US$ 70 billion, while the country has extended lines of credit (LoCs) worth US$ 12.26 billion to African countries; 193 projects have been completed and 66 are under execution, while 88 are in their pre-execution stage in various sectors. The investments are related to oil and gas, mining, banking, pharma, textiles, the automotive sector, and agriculture.
• South Africa occupies the 35th position in FDI equity inflows into India with a cumulative FDI amount of US$ 595.73 million from April 2000 – March 2023. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), approved cumulative India’s investments in Africa from April 1996 to March 2022 amounted to US$ 73.9 billion. Setting up a Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) is the most preferred route of investment for Indian investors in Africa, with nearly 81.6% of the total approved investments from April 2010-March 2022. Joint Ventures accounted for 18.4% of the total approved investments during the same period. Africa’s manufacturing sector attracted the highest Indian investments from April 2010-March 2022. Other major sectors attracting Indian investments include financial, insurance, real estate, and business services, agriculture and allied sectors, transport, storage, and communication services.
• Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi met the President of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, on June 27, 2022 on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Schloss Elmau, Germany. They expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in defence, education, and agriculture sectors, and reiterated the need for further deepening bilateral cooperation in areas like trade and investment, food security, defence, pharmaceuticals, digital financial inclusion, skill development, insurance, health, and people-to-people contacts. Both leaders also welcomed the WTO agreement reached in June 2022 that supports the production of COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries.
• The 17th edition of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Export-Import (EXIM) Bank Conclave on India-Africa Growth Partnership took place on July 19-20, 2022. Over 1,000 representatives from governments and businesses from various African countries attended the conclave
• The 11th Session of India-South Africa Foreign Office Consultations was held on August 3, 2022 in New Delhi. The Consultations were co-chaired by Mr. Puneet R. Kundal, JS (East & Southern Africa), Ministry of External Affairs, and Ms. Ntombizodwa Msutukazi Lallie, Acting Deputy Director-General Asia and Middle East, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa.
• The India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD) was held on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 18, 2022. The dialogue successfully brought out various aspects of the IADD’s theme ‘Adopting Strategy for Synergizing and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation’. Delivering the keynote address, Raksha Mantri, Mr. Rajnath Singh defined the theme of IADD as the underlying commitment of India and African countries to explore new areas of convergence for defence engagements, including capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security, and counter-terrorism.