Briefing Paper

The Rationale behind India’s Shift to Africa

Africa, as a continent of economic opportunities, is attracting foreign players. In this context, India is emerging as an important partner, especially for Eastern and Southern Africa. The complexity of its geopolitical environment combined with internal specificities motivated the revival of interest for the continent. This paper draws on historical developments between India and African countries to provide the state of play of recent linkages. Those trends are better perceived through the three prisms of trade and investments, finance and defence. From the current situation, the paper builds on possible outlooks.