After 17 years, an Indian Prime Minister is visiting the West African country for the first time. PM Modi’s visit to Nigeria is considered very important. The reason for this is the increase in trade between the two countries, which has reduced significantly. Trade between the two countries was more than $12 billion in FY 2021-22, which has declined to around $8 billion in FY 2022-23. At the same time, 135 Indian companies have invested $27 billion.
In such a situation, PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Nigeria becomes even more important. According to the report, PM Modi will try to open investment avenues for Indian companies in Nigeria’s mining, infra and defense sectors. However, the country’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last visited Nigeria in October 2007. Let us try to understand from the figures how Nigeria became so important for India and India for Nigeria?
Business fell 47 percent in one year
India is Nigeria’s largest trading partner and Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa. According to a report by the Consulate General of India Lagos, trade between India and Nigeria stood at $7.89 billion in the financial year 2023-24. Which was seen at $11.8 billion in the financial year 2022-23. Whereas in the financial year 2021-22, trade between the two countries reached 15 billion dollars. This means that trade between India and Nigeria has declined for two consecutive years. There has been a decline of about 47 percent in both of them. While India-Nigeria trade was worth $8.80 billion in the financial year 2020-21, it saw an increase of 66 percent in the next financial year.
trade between india and nigeria
| financial year | Turnover amount (in billions of dollars) |
| 2017-18 | 11.75 |
| 2018-19 | 13.89 |
| 2019-20 | 13.82 |
| 2020-21 | 8.80 |
| 2021-22 | 14.95 |
| 2022-23 | 11.8 |
| 2023-24 | 7.89 |
135 companies and $27 billion
On the other hand, many Indian companies have invested heavily in Nigeria. Because of this, Nigeria is able to survive in many areas. According to a report by the Consulate General of India Lagos, there are 135 Indian companies currently operating in Nigeria. Who have invested a total of 27 billion dollars in the African country. All these companies have investments in many sectors like infrastructure, manufacturing, consumer goods and services. In such a situation, PM Modi’s visit to Nigeria is considered very important.
What is export and import?
However, India exports more goods to Nigeria and imports less. If we talk about exports first, India’s exports to Nigeria include refined petroleum, packaged medicines, motorcycles and bicycles, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, electronic goods and metal products. If we talk about goods imported from India, it includes petroleum, crude and products. Apart from this, non-ferrous metals, wood and wood products and cashew nuts are also included in the list of imported products.
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