Why India’s energy security and growth depend on Africa

In May 2025, the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan hosted a ceremonial welcome for Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, the first Angolan president to visit India in 38 years. After the pageantry, diplomats and officials stitched together agreements on agriculture, ayurveda, technology and cultural cooperation—a glimpse of an expanding relationship long anchored in Angola’s oil and India’s energy needs. But the Angolans had something else in mind: increasing India’s footprint in the oil sector beyond that of a major crude importer.

Angola was eyeing investment in oil, ports and wider infrastructure, willing to offer oil blocks in a mechanism that would allow the investor to retain a substantial share of the oil produced. The phased investment discussed was around $2-$3 billion, according to officials privy to the talks. Angola’s willingness to offer so much oil stemmed from untapped mineral wealth needing infrastructure to reach global markets—rail connectivity from its interior to the ports.

The discussions involved ministers and officials on both sides, but did not translate into investment. India missing this upstream opportunity, despite being Angola’s second largest oil importer, underlined a larger problem—the India-Africa relationship, despite its enormous potential, has yet to move beyond take-off.

Today, India’s dependence on imported crude is being tested by repeated disruptions because of the west Asian crisis. At the same time, several African countries face targeted US sanctions. Africa watchers in New Delhi feel it is an opportune time for India to look at the continent again.

India has traditionally held overseas oil interests in Venezuela, South Sudan and Russia, besides Middle East partnerships. In recent years, India has also ventured into Brazil and Colombia. For Indian oil companies worried about rising logistic costs, Africa, thanks to its proximity, could answer several concerns. Munish Gupta, secretary and international coordinator of People of Indian Origin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said New Delhi needed to develop the institutional capacity and the strategic appetite to pursue the opportunities that lie in front of it.

Across Africa, from Senegal and Ghana to Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and Namibia, lie substantial oil resources, including reserves relatively easy to refine. Indeed, India is eyeing Nigerian crude again, pitching for its purchase at a bilateral on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

India will need to move nimbly to join Africa’s 2063 goal of shifting from raw material exports to industrialisation and value-added investment. The model: invest in mines, refineries or processing facilities and manufacturing and transport to sell to global markets.

It is precisely this integrated model China has pursued with far greater urgency. “The continent has oil. It has critical minerals. It has markets. It has infrastructure needs,” said Namrata Hasija, research fellow at the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy. “China understood this and moved aggressively. But, India has something that China cannot easily replicate—a 3.2 million-strong diaspora that is economically well-entrenched and enjoys considerable political goodwill in many African countries looking for partners to help build domestic value chains rather than just the extraction of resources.”

SHARING THE RISK

There have been discussions before. The Indian Oil Corporation, for instance, explored possibilities in Nigeria, but the effort did not progress as expected. The commercial reluctance is understandable, said Gupta. Exploration is expensive and uncertain for private players, making it heavily dependent on state initiatives.

Security concerns—law and order, piracy in parts of Africa—remain an added worry. But strategic experts argue exploration can, for the same reasons, be a strategic rather than commercial investment. There is growing urgency on the continent to find partners to replace transactional arrangements after USAID was dismantled and President Donald Trump tied remaining health and development financing strictly to US policy requests and burden-sharing, prompting some African nations to decline funds. “So, of course, it is creating more opportunities for China which already has deep inroads into the continent,” said Hasija.

India is not unfamiliar with overseas oil investment. Its companies have participated in roughly 40 projects or blocks worldwide, often through consortium arrangements that share exploration risk.

“We do it with a Spanish or Malaysian company,” said Hasija. “India can also partner with Japan and other like-minded countries. India and Japan are expanding their collaborative footprint in Africa through a revitalised economic partnership anchored in strategic outlook. This can be a good model.”

For countries like India transitioning to renewable energy, Africa remains attractive with rapid solar expansion capability alongside many of the minerals needed for new manufacturing and clean energy supply chains.

CONNECTING AFRICA

Kolkata-based Texmaco Rail and Engineering’s latest project in South Africa has generated excitement among Indian diaspora-led entrepreneurs there. Texmaco recently bagged a Rs4,100-crore export contract from South Africa’s Tsiko Africa Logistics and Barberry Holdings to design, manufacture and supply diesel-electric locomotives and wagons—a strategic push for India into the African rail market.

For Dr Kinesh Pather, chairman of Tsiko and a member of the BRICS Business Leaders Roundtable and CEO Forum, it is a strategic opportunity to put Indian technology, skills and manufacturing capacity on the ground and connect India more strongly with Africa’s emerging economic corridors. “It gives India a stronger industrial presence in a market that can potentially serve as a gateway to the wider African continent,” he told THE WEEK from Johannesburg. “That is important because Africa’s rail requirement is not limited to South Africa. As countries seek to move minerals, agricultural produce and manufactured goods more efficiently, demand for locomotives, wagons and maintenance and railway technology is likely to extend across borders.”

When it comes to creating integrated logistics and industrial corridors that add value before export, India’s port-led development model offers lessons from its industrial clusters near ports and its digitalisation that cuts costs and boosts resilience across its coastline. “This approach ensures minerals are not just exported raw but refined in processing plants that can be developed near ports to transform them into higher-value products, thereby strengthening both local economies and global supply chains,” said Jayakumar, former managing director and CEO of Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited in Thiruvananthapuram. India, he said, has pioneered digital logistics like GPS tracking and AI-driven demand forecasting. “African ports are already being upgraded with Indian investment,” he said. “For example, Tanzania and Mozambique are adopting these systems. It may be encouraged.”

Jayakumar said India’s position midway between Gulf producers and Africa is itself a strategic opportunity, now that routes like the Strait of Hormuz have turned risky. “India is already diversifying imports via Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea pipelines and the UAE’s Fujairah terminal, which opens the door to building stronger maritime corridors with Africa,” he said. India’s coastline, according to him, can anchor new westward supply chains linking Africa’s mineral wealth with its own refining and industrial capacity.

A NEW MINDSET

For India’s policymakers, the African story may require shifting from a defensive strategy to one that focuses aggressively on global economic networks. “While New Delhi pursues agreements with distant economies, including the US, the UK and the EU, economic integration within its neighbourhood has remained relatively low key,” said a foreign policy expert. “We do FTAs, and then we do quality control orders. It is a trader’s mindset. We keep protecting.”

With India now displaying confidence in its risk-taking capacity after a seemingly successful BRICS summit, fresh air has blown into this continental story waiting for attention. As one African watcher in New Delhi summarised, “If it is Africa, it is never too late for India.”