Africa at $100 billion: Why Modi's Johannesburg visit marks a turning point

At Johannesburg 2025, the Bharat–Africa partnership stepped out of the shadows, driven by minerals, accelerated by AfCFTA and UPI, and legitimised by Africa's G20 seat. The Global South now has its strongest economic lever

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ongoing visit to Johannesburg for the first G20 Summit on African soil has turned Bharat–Africa relations from a long-running narrative into a sharp business story.

Bharat has never lost sight of Africa, despite changing power within the country or shifting geopolitical realities. New Delhi has continued to engage with Africa, aligning with its needs and shifts in trade, geopolitics, and culture.

So, when from the G20 podium, PM Modi pushed a distinctly Africa-centred agenda, proposing a G20–Africa Skills Multiplier Initiative and calling for a rethink of global development parameters that have left Africa among "the greatest sufferers," the message was clear: Africa remains firmly in Bharat's foresight. When New Delhi says, "advancing Africa’s development and empowering its young talent is in the interest of the entire world," it means every word of it.

A $100-Billion corridor – and rising

Bharat is now Africa's third-largest trading partner after the EU and China, and bilateral trade has crossed the $100-billion mark in FY 2024–25, nearly doubling from about $56 billion in 2019–20.

The cumulative Indian investments in Africa now exceed $75 billion between 1996 and 2024, making Bharat one of "Africa’s top five investors." New Delhi's commitment to Africa's development is evident in its actions, not just words, as it has extended concessional lines of credit worth over $12 billion and granted about $700 million for African projects.

Samir Bhattacharya, an Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), where he works on geopolitics with particular reference to Africa, in his article "India’s vision for Africa: Supporting AfCFTA in 2025" notes that "India can play a significant role by assisting Africa attain its vision outlined in ‘The Agenda 2063: The Africa we want’.

India is committed to partnering with all African nations as they embark on the AfCFTA, to address the challenges impeding progress in the continent." Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is an independent global think tank based in New Delhi.

On the African side, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement has brought together 54 of 55 African countries, 47 of which have already ratified it, creating a single market of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion.

The AfCFTA is a “scale multiplier” that can transform Bharat's fragmented country-by-country engagements into continent-wide value chains. For Indian business, this combination—$100 billion in current trade and a unified African market in the making—is the real strategic story behind this week's photo-ops.

Africa: From raw-material source to growth market for India Inc

Africa is no longer just a supplier of raw materials. It is one of the world's fastest-growing regions, with a rapidly urbanising and youthful population—a rising consumer market for Indian companies. Bharat's export basket to Africa already includes machinery and transport equipment, pharmaceuticals, textiles, vehicles, refined petroleum products, and food items.

At the same time, India imports crude oil, LNG, gold, coal, phosphates, copper, cobalt, and diamonds. In this context, PM Modi's pitch at the G20 to reorient development models and skill Africa's youth is not just moral positioning; it is about building the human capital that Indian firms will eventually hire, supply, or partner with in African markets.

The Critical Minerals Axis

If demography makes Africa a market, minerals make it a strategic necessity. Africa accounts for roughly 47 per cent of global cobalt reserves and about 85 per cent of manganese, both indispensable for electric vehicles, batteries and clean-energy technologies central to Bharat's energy transition.

New Delhi has been quietly building a network of mineral partnerships. Bharat is rapidly expanding its mineral partnerships across Africa. With Zambia and Zimbabwe, it has MoUs for geological cooperation and joint exploration of copper, cobalt and other key minerals. India is also eyeing lithium, cobalt, and rare-earth assets in Congo, Tanzania, and Mozambique as part of its green-energy strategy. In 2025, Indian geologists surveyed 9,000 sq km in Zambia for potential mining leases.

Modi's 2025 Namibia visit helped advance ties in uranium, diamonds, copper and phosphates. This diplomatic and commercial push is anchored in Bharat's National Critical Mineral Mission, launched in January 2025 to secure overseas sources of lithium, cobalt, rare earths and other strategic minerals.

For Africa, the mood has shifted; many countries want processing and value addition at home, not just ore exports. That aligns with Bharat's own experience of moving up the value chain. It also means Indian companies can explore joint ventures, local processing, and technology-sharing.

What Bharat brings to the table: Digital public infrastructure

If minerals are the hardware of the partnership, Bharat's digital public infrastructure (DPI) is fast becoming the software.

Namibia became the first African nation to adopt a real-time digital payments system based on India's UPI in July 2025, following a licensing agreement during Modi's visit.

Across the continent, Bharat's digital public infrastructure—Aadhaar-style digital ID, UPI payments and secure data-sharing frameworks—is increasingly seen as a blueprint for Africa's own digital transformation, enabling interoperable payments, financial inclusion and low-cost governance solutions.

African governments facing fragmented banking networks, high remittance costs and limited tax bases can benefit greatlyfrom Bharat's digital public infrastructure. New Delhi offers interoperable, low-cost payment systems such as UPI-like rails and RuPay partnerships, along with Aadhaar-style digital identity and e-governance tools that have significantly reduced leakages in welfare delivery.

Indian fintech and insure-tech start-ups—experienced in high-volume, low-ticket markets—can also help build scalable digital ecosystems. For Indian fintechs, this moment presents a strategic opportunity to globalise through government-backed digital rails, creating new markets and partnerships across Africa.

Geopolitics: The global south, now with a G20 seat

India's 2023 G20 presidency paved the way for the African Union's inclusion as a permanent G20 member, a legacy South Africa is advancing in 2025. In Johannesburg, Prime Minister Modi framed India–Africa cooperation as central to amplifying the Global South's voice, stressing that this solidarity must move “beyond the G20” into global institutions.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly called India a “strategic partner,” highlighting significant room to deepen ties. For Africa, Bharat is a trusted, non-colonial partner with proven development and digital strengths.

For Indian businesses, this political goodwill reduces soft risks and opens more welcoming markets. India–Africa relations, long rooted in solidarity and shared history, are now transitioning into a sharper economic and strategic partnership.

PM Modi's Johannesburg visit has redrawn the map: Africa is no longer a sentimental chapter in India's foreign policy, but its most promising growth frontier.

With trade already past $100 billion, critical minerals flowing, digital rails spreading, and AfCFTA unlocking a continental market, the old solidarity narrative has matured into a hard-nosed, mutual-interest partnership. For Indian business and African ambition alike, the message is unambiguous – the future starts now, and it begins together.

(The author is the founder of My Startup TV)