NAIROBI, Kenya: Millions of mobile phone subscribers in Africa saw the icon on their phone screens change from Kuwaiti company Zain to Indian company Airtel last fall. The change means little to the average customer, but for the continent, it's another sign that India is moving in. The expansion by Bharti Airtel into 16 African countries underscores the rise of India in Africa, at a time when much of the focus on foreign investment here has been on China. The Indian government is raising its diplomatic profile in Africa, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet leading several business delegations in recent years. And Indian companies are striving to keep up with China's business profile in Africa, taking advantage of historical ties with the continent. “I think one of the things that India doesn't want to allow to happen is that it doesn't want to get behind in this kind of engagement,” said Sanusha Naidu, research director at the Britain-based Fahamu organization, an advocacy group tracking African issues. Naidu said India's renewed interest in Africa has not received as much attention as China's because India is not seen as a threat. “It is seen as a democratic state,” Naidu, a South African, said. “It doesn't have a communist regime. All that plays in favor of India.” India and China are vying for Africa because of the bottom line: Africa represents new growth. “This is the last growth continent in the world. Europe is a done industry. The US is a done industry. Southeast Asia is old,” said Sunil Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Airtel. “Our model is not suitable for a matured market. We need growth and Africa is the right place to grow.” The International Monetary Fund said in October that sub-Saharan Africa will register the second-highest growth rates in the world in 2011, behind only Asia. The IMF said sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth rate will be 5 percent in 2010, compared with 2.5 percent in 2009. This year, the IMF projects Africa's rate will be 5.5 percent. The relations between India and Africa are centuries old. In the 1960s and 1970s, India helped newly independent African states by training them at Indian universities and other institutions. Indian conglomerates such as the Tata Group have had a presence in Africa for decades. But India is now changing its relationship with Africa from the political, such as advocating an end to colonialism, to the economic. In recent years, some Indian companies have expanded their business in Africa, propelling what were once small operations into major players. New companies have also moved in. In October 2008, Indian conglomerate Essar Group launched a mobile telephone company in Kenya, in its first investment in Africa. Since then, it has acquired mobile telephone companies in Uganda and the Republic of Congo. Essar Oil, India's second-biggest private oil firm, entered an agreement in 2009 to acquire 50 percent of Kenya Petroleum Refineries, which serves three countries in east and central Africa. Last year Essar won the bid to acquire a 60 percent share in the state-owned Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Co. In 2005, Karuturi Global, an Indian agriculture company, bought 15 hectares in Ethiopia to grow roses for export, an investment of about $1.9 million. Karuturi has since grown that investment to have 75 hectares of roses. In 2007, it bought one of the largest flower farms in Kenya, in a deal valued at about $65.5 million. In the past two years, Karuturi has acquired another 311,700 hectares in Ethiopia for an undisclosed amount of money. Indian drug companies Cipla and Ranbaxy have been a lifeline for years for millions of Africans who are HIV-positive, because they produce far cheaper generic anti-retroviral drugs than the branded drugs from European and American companies.
