Paper short abstract:

Focus of the article would be to examine whether India's investment and trade have benefited African countries or is similar to earlier colonial pattern.Have they helped structural transformation of African economies?

Paper long abstract:

India's involvement with Africa goes back a long way to the early days of African independence movements in the 1960s and before. However, the current level and intent of India's involvement is on a different plane altogether. In those early days, India had looked towards African countries within the context of an emerging Afro-Asian solidarity among Third World countries. India's presence was notable in infrastructure projects in East African countries, besides assistance in setting up small scale industries in different African countries. India provided various other forms of aid, under the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation program.

However, during the first decade of the 21st century, the scope of India-Africa cooperation increased rapidly. This was especially due to India's emergence as an important player in the world economy and its significant need for oil and other natural resources. This is evident from India-Africa Forum Summits where India offered significant loans, grants and development assistance to woo African countries.

In this paper, I have attempted to document the changing dynamics of India's engagement with Africa, with the focus primarily on trade, investment, official development assistance and capacity building activities. Focus of the article would be to examine whether India's investment and trade have benefited African countries or is similar to earlier colonial pattern. Are India's development assistance and capacity building programmes relevant to African needs? Have they contributed to improving economic, political and social sectors of African countries? Have they helped structural transformation of African economies?