Atmanirbhar in Africa

India’s defence sector is a success of the self-reliance push by New Delhi. Now it is looking to export, and the continent of Africa is a region of promise. It has geostrategic convergence and equipment complementarity with India.

BY Ambassador Gurjit Singh

India’s focus on defence exports is bearing fruit. In 2023-24, exports of defence equipment reached a record $2.63 billion, 32% higher than the previous year.[1] Of this, the private sector contributed 60%, with state companies bringing up the rest. While the U.S. is the largest destination, the continent of Africa is being given considerable attention by India.

Four reasons why:

First, Africa is within the Indian conception of the Indo-Pacific and SAGAR. Countries like Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Seychelles and Madagascar are the focal points for strategic engagement. India is acting on it, so second, besides opening 18 new embassies in Africa, India has now increased the  strength of its defence advisors in five embassies.[2] Third, the Kalashnikov AK203 manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh is onstream and delivering weapons. Some African countries are interested in importing this specific equipment. Fourth, on Oct 1, Tata Advanced Systems has secured a contract to manufacture 150 wheeled armoured platform (WhAP) combat vehicles[3] for the Moroccan military, and this could include a local facility for their further manufacture in Morocco. It is the biggest deal for Indian made armoured vehicles globally.

These are welcome steps, both in the nature of the expansion of India’s relationship with Africa and in finding new avenues for defence exports to that continent.

India has a large target of reaching $6 billion over the next five years, and an ambitious $4 billion  for the current year for defence exports. Half of ongoing exports are taken up by the U.S.[4] and, to an extent, France, due to equipment manufactured with them, both for India and globally. These are exports of parts, which is growing well.

With Africa, it is a focus on complete systems and ammunition. African countries don’t require heavy weapons because their main challenges are terrorism and civil strife and not major wars like those being fought in Ukraine or Gaza. Africa is seen as a market whose demands are met from various parts of the world. According to SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Africa had 4.3% of global arms imports in 2018-2023, while Asia & Oceania had 37%, 30% for West Asia, 21% for Europe, and 5.7% for the Americas. Between 2018-2023, Russia supplied a quarter of African defence imports. However, these are impacted by U.S. sanctions and availability. This opens avenues for Indian equipment of Russian origin among African countries.

China has now overtaken Russia as the main arms supplier to Africa, with its share now 19%, compared to 17% from Russia, 15% from India, 11% from France, and 6.3% from Turkey. Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Angola and Senegal are among the major markets but are not consistent buyers.[5]

Most African countries require protection of their coasts and deal with non-traditional threats like illegal migration, smuggling, piracy.. Defending against radicals and terrorists like Islamic State, Al Shabab and others is becoming increasingly difficult, creating greater demand for helicopters and surveillance equipment.

Specifically therefore, African countries are interested in small arms and ammunition, offshore patrol vessels, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers. India offers all these. The market for missiles and aircraft is smaller, though countries like Nigeria, which is a dominant force in West Africa, have shown interest in India’s Tejas 4.5 generation delta wing multirole combat aircraft.

The main African importers of Indian-made defence supplies are the Seychelles, Mauritius and Mozambique. Mozambique imported interceptor boats and armoured vehicles. Much of the coast guard and helicopter components for the Seychelles and Mauritius are based on Indian exports. The funding for this was – mainly through grants, but some through credit lines. In February 2021 Mauritius was the latest user of a $100 million Line Of Credit for defence exports from India. Other African countries would like to buy more, like the Dhruv light helicopters from HAL, but debt stress, means they are reluctant to utilise Indian credit lines for this purpose. Given the de-dollarisation trends, India can break this logjam by offering Rupee rather than U.S. dollar-denominated lines of credit.

An effort is now underway[6] to expand India’s defence market share in Africa, offering them augmented defence preparedness at lower cost. Defence advisors at embassies across the world are now a determined part of promoting defence exports, particularly in Africa, where India is not politically involved in any local conflict. Under recent reassignments, India has appointed new defence advisors to Indian Ocean coastal countries like Ethiopia, Djibouti, Tanzania, Mozambique and Ivory Coast in West Africa. These are in addition to the defence advisors  in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

Several African countries have been part of the meetings held by the Ministry of Defence with defence ministers of African countries on October 2022 and the Indian Ocean region in February 2021. They have participated in a meeting of African military chiefs in Pune in March 2023 along with the second  joint military exercise with African countries  AFINDEX also in Pune.[7] Such efforts are slowly bearing fruit.

The Tata deal with Morocco is a test for India’s defence sector managing multiple platforms, partners and domestic compulsions. It is India’s first indigenously developed eight-wheeled armoured vehicle, and is a manifestation of the Atmanirbhar defence manufacturing capability in India. The vehicle may face competition from the U.S.’ offer of building a similar 8-wheel Stryker infantry combat vehicle in India. It means the WhAP will need an export market, and therefore, the engagement with Morocco is welcome. Its success will expand the market for Made in India equipment and platforms in Africa.

Gurjit Singh is a former Indian Ambassador to Germany. He is currently promoting the impact investment movement for implementing SDGs in Africa.

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