NEW DELHI: India’s Department of Commerce has prepared a strategy to boost shipments to Africa amid concerns over declining exports, whilst engineering will be a major sector focused on, there are also plans to increase exports of agricultural and farm equipment.
The Department of Commerce will now hold consultations with Ambassadors and High Commissioners of major African nations and industry stakeholders to implement that strategy, an official said. At a time of global demand slowdown, African nations including South Africa and Nigeria, are major export destinations for India, he said.
The official said, “Indian farm and agri equipment are competitive compared to western products. There are huge tracts of land in Africa and agriculture is the growing sector there. There is good demand for tractors and also automobiles in African countries like Nigeria and South Africa,” FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said. The two-way commerce between India and Africa is about USD 75 billion.
India’s exports contracted for the 13th month in a row, dipping about 15 per cent in December to USD 22.2 billion due to steep decline in engineering and petroleum shipments. The total exports in 2015-16 will thus be lower than the previous fiscal’s figure of USD 310.5 billion.
