Indian companies love Nigeria’s business environment — High Commissioner
The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Shri G. Balasubramanian, spoke to Weekend Trust exclusively on the business environment in Nigeria and why Indian companies are finding the country a fertile ground to invest. He also spoke about trade relations and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Excerpts: Can you describe the current state […]
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The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Shri G. Balasubramanian, spoke to Weekend Trust exclusively on the business environment in Nigeria and why Indian companies are finding the country a fertile ground to invest. He also spoke about trade relations and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Excerpts:
Can you describe the current state of bilateral relations between Nigeria and India?
India and Nigeria have very strong relations which date back to two years before Nigeria’s independence when we established our diplomatic office in 1958. Since then, we have had a wonderful relationship, and the political leadership on both sides have invested so much in developing this relationship as much as possible. This has been possible only because of the importance India attaches to Nigeria. That is why we opened two years before your independence. You are the giant of Africa.
Both India and Nigeria have many similarities. Both of us are multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic societies, with large populations in our own respective geographies, and we have such similarities which actually work in our favour in terms of understanding each other.
There’s a large Indian community in Nigeria. Similarly, there’s a sufficiently large number of Nigerians who have gone to India for studies or work or for medical treatment, and so on. So, the relationship is, I would say in one word, fantastic, and we’ll continue to work towards further strengthening this relationship.
You said that there’s a large community of Indians in Nigeria. Can you give us numbers?
I don’t have the exact numbers but it would be in the range of about 50,000 or so throughout Nigeria. Most of them are concentrated in Lagos, many of them in Kano, Abuja and in almost every other state of Nigeria.
What are the key areas of cooperation between India and Nigeria, and how do you see this evolving in the future?
When India took over the presidency of G20, because of our ongoing relationship and because of the confidence that we have in Nigeria, India had invited Nigeria as a guest country for G20 and that was the first time Nigeria was invited to G20 and which has now subsequently paved way for Brazil inviting Nigeria and hopefully South Africa next year.
Also, we had our Prime Minister visit in 2007 and His Excellency, President Tinubu visited India in 2023. There have been a series of visits at the political level; whether it is the foreign minister from India, the Foreign Minister from Nigeria or the Defence Minister from India. The National Security Adviser just completed the second counter-terrorism dialogue in India. So, we have wonderful cooperation on the political level.
On the trade and economic level, I would say that Nigeria is the largest trading partner for India in Africa, and we are one of the top five trading partners for Nigeria. More than 200 Indian companies have established manufacturing facilities and have worked here for more than four decades, so much so that they have invested about $27 billion. So, our relationship on trade and economic relations is wonderful.
On people-to-people contact, I would say that capacity building has been one of our strong points. We have trained more than 500 Nigerian friends every year on a complete full scholarship from the government of India. Students are also going to India given the good facilities that are available for education in India.
Also, India is one of the popular destinations for Nigerians for medicare. Now, there are many hospitals coming in. For example, there is Padiyath Mayfield Hospital in Sun City—a 300-bed hospital which has recently been taken over by one of the Indian companies. The company has plans to open similar hospitals in all the six geopolitical regions of this country.
On the cultural side, we have had excellent cultural relationships. Nigerian cultural troops have visited India, whether it is in the Surajkund Mela or at other major festivals that India organises regularly. Nollywood and Bollywood are also yet another area in which we are cooperating. There are already two joint productions between the two, and we are working on an audio-visual agreement for the joint production of movies and other things. So, I would say, overall, and in every aspect, we have a wonderful relationship with Nigeria.
Could you tell us the success stories of some Indian companies operating in Nigeria and their impact on the local economy?
I did mention that there are more than 200 Indian companies, many of which are large-scale companies employing 3000 to 4,000 people, and there are more than $4 billion worth of investments that have been made in the pharmaceutical segment by various companies.
So, Indian companies are in different areas of manufacturing and producing, providing employment as the second largest employer after the federal government. Over a period of 30 to 40 years, they have been impacting positively towards both the local and national economy.
How are the Indian companies faring in Nigeria’s business environment?
When I came to Nigeria, which was two years back, there were 155 Indian companies. Today, there are 200 Indian companies. So Indian companies look towards Nigeria’s potential, and they are ready to work here. None of the Indian companies have shown any reason to leave Nigeria. So, that itself proves the confidence they have in Nigeria.
India is one of the countries with a huge diaspora presence, and in Nigeria recently, we’ve been having the issue of our best and young hands leaving for Europe, America and the Middle East. How has India taken advantage of its diaspora population to drive development despite the issue of brain drain?
Every developing country goes through this cycle. We also faced this concept of brain drain. Initially, in the 80s and 70s, we faced this in India but we do not call it brain drain anymore. We call it brain circulation, in the sense that people who have gone out, have gathered experience outside, have earned money outside, now come back to India to invest, to provide the technical capabilities and the technology that they have developed.
So, for the diaspora management, we have a separate division in India, which is under the Ministry of External Affairs, like your NiDCOM, and they have more than 27 different schemes through which they attract the potential of the non-resident Indians.
Nigerians see India as a destination for their health care. Is there any move by India to bring these facilities to Nigeria?
There are a few Indian hospitals in Nigeria. One is Primus Hospital, which has been here for the past five to six years. There are eye care hospitals including Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Skipper Eye-Q, Indo Eye Care Foundation in Lagos, and Geeta Mandir in Lagos. These are various eye care hospitals which have been functioning effectively, providing good treatment.
Yes, India is an affordable and most effective destination for medical treatment for Nigerians. At the same time, Indian hospitals and conglomerates have also found the importance of the Nigerian market and Nigerian requirements. So, they are setting up hospitals here. This is just the beginning, and I’m sure that will be more in future.
India is known for its prowess in the IT sector, and Nigeria is one of the hubs in Africa. How are you keying into this?
Information technology is an area that has been identified as a major thrust by the Government of India. Also, we are working towards signing a digital public infrastructure agreement that has been created as part of the G20 declaration by the leadership. The digital public infrastructure is something that we would be offering and working on with Nigeria which will help in developing the technological and technical capabilities of Nigeria, both in the government and private sectors.
Also, many Indian training centres have set up training institutes over here. On the digital side, if you look at the creative economy—Nollywood or Bollywood, almost 60 to 70 per cent of all these special effects in the world are being done in India. We have offered training on that part also. So, capacity building is one area, and cooperation at the government level for the digital public infrastructure is something that we are working on. And it is a win-win situation for both sides.
India is a founding member of the BRICS but the organisation is viewed as an anti-West body. How true is this view?
I would like to dispel this concept that it is an anti-West, anti-US kind of a thing. BRICS is a group of countries which have come together for developmental activities like the New Development Bank, which has been created under BRICS. Basically, it is to finance and provide technical assistance, best practices, know-how, and other things for the Global South. It is a group of countries which are working towards the development of themselves, and we certainly welcome Nigeria as a partner country.
Like India, Nigeria has a large population, and India has been able to use this population to develop its economy. What lesson do you think Nigeria should learn from India in this aspect?
Population is a double-edged sword. One has to be very careful, and one has to always provide opportunities for the youth. In India, the demography is such that more than 65 percent of our country is less than 35 years of age. And in Nigeria, you have a very youthful population and a very working population.
So, in India, we have developed the educational system, and the medium and small industries. Through infrastructure development and MSME and other things, we were in a position to provide opportunities to a large number of the youth in India. In the past five years alone, we have had more than 5000 startups, providing solutions based on technology to the day-to-day problems that are in the country.