High Commission of India

Maputo, Mozambique

High Commission of India
Maputo

India-Mozambique Commercial Relations

Overview: 

Bilateral commercial relations between India and Mozambique have steadily enhanced in recent years, particularly following the visit of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, to Mozambique in July 2016. Since then, the presence of Indian companies in Mozambique has increased to now number over 50. Indian investments in Mozambique are valued approximately at USD 10 billion, which is about 25% of India’s total investments in Africa. There has been perceptible increase in interest among Indian companies about Mozambique and consequently, the numbers of business visits from India to Mozambique have grown.

As per the trade statistics of the Department of Commerce of India, India-Mozambique bilateral trade grew from USD 634.82 million in 2011-12 to USD 1.8 billion in 2017-18.  In between, bilateral trade had increased to USD 2.4 billion (2014-15).  However, Indian exports to Mozambique fell sharply from USD 2.1 billion in 2014-15 to USD 1.2 billion in 2015-16, and subsequently further to just USD 1 billion in 2016-17 and USD 870 million in FY 2017-18. This continuing decrease had partly been because of the fall in price of petroleum (refined petroleum products account for about 75% of Indian exports to Mozambique) combined with a foreign exchange crisis in Mozambique which restricted their ability to import.  In contrast to our exports to Mozambique, Mozambique's exports to India have continued to rise, amounting to USD 363 million in 2015-16, USD 546 million in 2016-17 and further to USD 926 million in FY 2017-18, due increase in export of coking coal.  The main exports from Mozambique to India are coking coal (67%), pulses, cashew and raw materials.  Apart from refined petroleum products, Indian main exports to Mozambique are pharmaceuticals, fabrics, and machinery. 2017-18 is the first time when Mozambique has a trade surplus with India. In 2020-21, India-Mozambique bilateral trade stood at USD 3.8 billion that was largely balanced—India, with its exports of USD 1.98 billion had a marginal trade surplus.

The bulk of Indian investments have been in the off-shore gas sector in Mozambique where Indian Public Section Undertakings (PSUs) – OVL, BPRL and Oil India together have a combined stake of 30% in the Rovuma Area-I gas field off the coast of northern Mozambique. Several Indian companies, both public and private, have invested in the rich coal sector of Mozambique. Two major companies that are engaged in the coal mining sector of Mozambique are: Indian PSU- International Coal Ventures Limited (joint venture of SAIL, RINL, NMDC, NTPC & CIL) and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) Africa. Mozambique has regularly participated in various Conclaves and other commercial/economic events organized by the Indian chambers of commerce and industry such as CII, FICCI, etc. to further enhance partnership and economic/commercial relations with African countries. Mozambique has also joined the Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme for Least Developed Countries announced by GoI during India-Africa Summit-I held in New Delhi in April 2008.

2. Exchange of Visits: The following exchange of economic/commercial visits took place during the last decade:

From India:

• Minister of State for External Affairs (MOS(PK) Smt Preneet Kaur led a 5-member official and 22-member business delegations to Mozambique from July 3 to 6, 2013 to co-chair the 3rd Joint Commission Meeting (JCM).
• Commerce & Industry Minister (CIM), Shri Anand Sharma, accompanied by a 21-member CII delegation led by Shri Adi Godrej visited Maputo from September 27-28, 2013.  
• General V.K. Singh (Retd) visited Mozambique from 14-16 January, 2015 to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Filipe Nyusi on 15 January
• Minister of State (Independent charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan visited from 8 -11 April 2015, he attended JWG on Petroleum during his visit.
• From 10-11 July 2015, MoS (VKS) visited Maputo as a Special Envoy of PM to invite President Nyusi for IAFS III in October 2015 in Delhi
• Shri P. Mara Pandian, CMD, Kerala Cashew Board Ltd visited to Mozambique with delegation from December 17-20, 2017
• MoS, Gen. V.K. Singh visited Mozambique from 11 to 14 February 2018, during which he called on President Nyusi and had meetings with the Mozambican Ministers of Foreign Affairs; Mineral Resources & Energy; Industry and Trade; and Defence.  The Mozambican Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy signed International Solar Alliance agreement.
• Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh with 5-member delegation visited Mozambique from 28-30 July 2019. RM called on Prime Minister Carlos Rosario, held bilateral talks with his counterpart Mr. Atanasio Salvador M’tumuke and Foreign Minister Jose Pacheco. RM handed over two Fast Interceptor Boats to Defence Minister of Mozambique and 44 SUVs to Interior Minister, Mr. Jaime Basilio Monteiro.  
• MoS for External Affairs, Shri V. Muraleedharan, visited Mozambique from 14-16 January 2020 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Filipe Nyusi on 15th January 2020 as a special envoy of our Prime Minister.
• Dy National Security Advisor of India led a delegation to Mozambique during May 3-5, 2022 to assist Mozambique address its national defence and security challenges.    

From the Mozambican side:

• All Mozambican Presidents (four) have visited India.  Samora Machel in 1982, Joaquim Chissano in 1988 and 2003, Armando Guebuza in 2010 and the incumbent, Filipe Nyusi, in 2015.  President Nyusi had undertaken a short-term management course at IIM, Ahmedabad. From the Indian side, however, there has never been a Presidential visit.
• Mozambique Prime Minister, Aires Ali visited India in March 2011 to attend the CII EXIM Bank India-Africa Conclave
• A 26-member delegation led by Agriculture Minister, and including Ministers of Energy, Health and Industry & Trade and Governors of three Provinces, attended the 9th CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership held in New Delhi from March 17 to 19, 2013.
• A 7-member delegation led by Minister of Public Works & Housing Cadmiel Mutemba, to attend the India Water Week – 2013 held in New Delhi from April 8 to 12, 2013.
• Ms. Esperança Bias, Minister of Mineral Resources from January 12 to 15, 2014 to attend Petrotech-2014.
• A 13-member delegation led by Agriculture Minister, and including Minister of Industry & Trade attended the 10th CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership held in New Delhi from March 09-11, 2014.
• Key representatives of trade bodies accompanied Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario for the IAFS-III summit from 27 to 30 October 2015.
• Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi made a bilateral visit to India in November 2014, signed an MOU on Cooperation in the area of Oil and Gas with our MOS for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
• Mozambican Health Minister, Dr. Nazira Abdula visited India in September 2016 for attending the India-Africa Health Sciences Meeting
• Mozambican Minister for Transport and Communication, Carlos Mesquita visited India in January 2017, during which he signed the Bilateral Air Services Agreement with the Indian Minister for Civil Aviation
• Prime Minster of Mozambique HE Carlos Rosaria visited India in June 2018 (a Private visit)
• Former Foreign Minister Jose Pacheco visited India from 28th November to 2nd December 2018
• Minister of Industry and Commerce, Dr. Ragendra de Sousa attended 14th CII-EXIM bank conclave with business delegation from 17-19th March 2019 at New Delhi.
• Defence Minister, Atanasio Salvador M’tumuke visited India from 26-30 November 2019 when he had met NSA, EAM and RM and signed a supplementary MOU on Maritime Security in Mozambican EEZ
  
  

3. Apart from above, business delegations/representatives from several Indian companies regularly visited Mozambique and the number and frequency of such visits has increased considerably in recent times. Mozambique was the Partner Country in the CII Exim Bank Conclave on India Africa Partnership in 2011. Many Mozambican companies participate in CII EXIM banks conclaves in India every year. Following Indian business houses and companies have dominant presence in Mozambique: ICVL, RITES/IRCON, WAPCOS, Essar group, Pure Diet India Ltd, Raja Ram Bapu group, MozIndia, Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (BPRL) - a 100% subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Ultra Tech Cements Ltd (Aditya Birla Group), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Tata Mozambique, Mozambique Holdings, AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd (A Shapoorji Pallonji Group Company), Jaguar Overseas Ltd, GAIL, Escorts Ltd, Vulcan, etc.

4. Bilateral Trade:   The bilateral trade between the two countries have registered impressive growth in the last few years. The figures for India’s trade with Mozambique for the last seven years are given below:
                                                                                                              
Value: Million US$, DGCIS

Source: DGCIS

India’s exports to Mozambique comprises mainly of Petroleum products, Engineering goods, Pharmaceuticals, Rice, Fabrics, Bicycles, Machinery, Ceramic products and Glassware, Plastic and Linoleum.  Major item-wise imports from India over the last few years and their associated changes in percentage terms are as follows:

Source: DGCIS

The contribution of India’s exports to total global imports of Mozambique are as follows:

Source: National Institute of Statistics of Mozambique

5. Government of India has signed an Agreement with the Government of Mozambique for assured import of 200,000 tons of pigeon peas from Mozambique annually.  We can also collaborate with Mozambique for achieving a win-win solution for promoting other Mozambican exports to India, such as cashew nuts, coconuts etc since India has expertise in processing them for their eventual re-exports.

6. Government of India’s Concessional Lines of Credit: India’s developmental assistance to Mozambique has mostly been extended through concessional lines of credit for financing social and physical infrastructure. At present, GOI has a standing commitment of USD 772 million under LOCs for 14 different projects in Mozambique. Until 2010, India had offered Lines of Credit worth about USD 140 million to Mozambique.  These were used for financing projects of rural electrification, drinking water supply and a Technology Development and Innovation Center (TDIC) at an S&T Park. During the State visit of the Mozambican President to India in 2010, an additional LOC envelope of USD 500 million was announced. Some of the smaller projects among these have since made good progress – a food security project worth USD 20 million; a project worth USD 13 million for setting up a solar photovoltaic module plant; and a USD 20 million project for expanding rural drinking water availability have been completed.  However, the larger projects approved under the USD 500 million envelope have seen implementation problems. These larger projects include a US$250 million project for improving the quality of power supply in Maputo and surrounding areas and a US$47 million project for construction of 1200 houses in three Mozambican provinces. USD 250 million LOC was re-offered to Mozambique in 2019 for improving electricity supply in Maputo and adjoining areas and the LOC agreement was signed in August 2020. Similarly, the revised DPR for the housing project under US $ 47 million LoC extended by Government of India is being prepared by the Government of Mozambique. As regards LOC of USD 150 million for rehabilitation of the Tica-Buzi-Nova Sofala road project, President Nyusi had laid the foundation stone for the project on 7 September 2018. In 2018, following IMF’s relaxation of sanctions imposed on Mozambique in 2016 following revelation of the hidden debt scandal, GoI sanctioned LoC of USD 38 million for rural drinking water project in Nampula, Zambezia, Sofala and Manica provinces. The LoC agreement for USD 38 million was signed on 20th March 2019 and is being implemented. GoI also approved LoC of USD 95 million for purchase of Railway rolling stock including locomotives, wagons and coaches and the LoC agreement was signed on 31st December 2018.

7. Grants/Assistance: Besides LOC support, India has also extended limited grant assistance to Mozambique. During the Mozambican President's visit to India in 2010, a grant of US$ 4.5 million was announced for assisting the Mozambican police forces. Through this modality, three anti-riot vehicles, 100 anti-riot guns and ammunition and some protective gear, as well as 5000 solar lanterns at a total cost of approximately US$773,000 were provided to the Mozambican Government. Subsequently, a part of the grant was used for training 6 Mozambican police officers at the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU) in Ahmedabad for a Masters Programme. Substantial part of the money was used for purchasing 40 Mahindra SUVs and 6 Tata Armoured Personnel Carriers for the Mozambican Government from the local subsidiaries of these Indian companies. RM gifted 44 SUVs amounting to USD 621500/-, as part of the USD 4.5 million grant, to Mozambican Interior Minister in July 2019. During the visit of Prime Minister in July 2016, India announced an in-kind donation of 100 tons of essential medicines to Mozambique out of which two lots of medicines have already been handed over to Mozambique while the third lot is being processed by us. In early 2017, Ministry gave a separate cash-grant of USD 1 million to the Mozambican Health Ministry, for purchase of Indian-manufactured health equipment. Some medical equipment was also gifted to Mozambique in July 2018. A major grant assistance to Mozambique was the cash-grant of USD 10 million given in December 2016, for purchase of wheat from the world market, due to shortage of food caused by two successive years of drought in certain parts. Following Mozambique’s request, India donated 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Mozambique in March 2021 and another 720,000 doses of the same vaccine in December 2021 under the Covax initiative.

On February 14, 2022, India and Mozambique signed a MoU for implementation of a Drinking Water Project at the Mueda District, which is the home district of President Nyusi, in the Cabo Delgado province under Government of India’s grant assistance of US $ 10 million. The project would be implemented shortly.

India also donated Covid-19 related assistance package comprising of PPE kits, hand sanitizers and face masks to Mozambique besides 2 Mahindra SUVs to Mozambique in early 2022.

8. Indian projects/investments in Mozambique: Mozambique reportedly accounts for 37% of India’s FDIs into Africa. Besides, several Indian PSUs have invested large sums in this country. The largest Indian investments have been in the coal and natural gas sectors.  Indian companies present in the coal sector include private players like Godrej, Tata Steel, JSPL, JSW, Essar, Coal India Ltd and Asian Tea Group. In October 2014, the International Coal Ventures Pvt. Limited (ICVL) – a joint venture set up by SAIL, CIL, RINL, NMDC and NTPC – finalised the acquisition of the massive coal assets of Rio Tinto in Tete Province of Mozambique for US$ 50 million. Indian PSUs—OVL, BPRL and OIL have committed investment in the natural gas sector in the Rovuma basin of Cabo Delgado of approximately about USD 20 billion out of which USD 7.2 billion has already been executed. India is the biggest stake holder in Area-1 of the Rovuma gas field. The ‘Final Investment Decision’ of Area-1 was made on 18th June 2019. Besides Indian PSUs, French Petroleum giant, TOTAL, has invested 26.5% stakes and is the operator of the project. The other foreign investors are Mitsui (20%), Thai company—PTTEP (8.5%) and Mozambican company (ENH) (15%). Vulcan, a fully owned subsidiary of the Jindal Group, acquired the Moatize coal mining asset and the 920-km Nacala Logistical Corridor from the Brazilian mining giant, Vale, in December 2021 for a cumulative investment of US $ 270 million. The acquired coal mine has an annual coal production capacity of 22 million tonnes, although Vale was producing 18 million tonnes of coal per year.  

10. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE)’s 2020 Annual Report, India was the second export destination of Mozambique in 2020, and South Africa was ranked first. The report revealed that India purchased goods of 424 million US dollars from Mozambique in 2020, while South Africa purchased goods of 828 million US dollars. China was ranked fourth on the list, with purchased of goods of 261 million US dollars. Mozambique exports in 2020 reached 3.5 billion US dollars, of which 11.84% was imported by India and 23.08% by South Africa. As regards Mozambican imports from other countries that was worth 6.4 billion US dollars in 2020, South Africa was ranked first, with 1.9 billion US dollars (30.84%), and India was ranked third, with 581 million US dollars (8,99%). China was ranked second, with exports of 694 million US dollars (10.73%). Mozambique’s main exports are aluminium, coal, electricity, heavy sand minerals, natural gas, tobacco, sugar, cashew nuts, bananas and wood. Machinery led the list of its imported products, followed by cereals, diesel, automobiles, medicines, electricity, cooking oil, petrol, cement and beer.

9. Trade Agreements:

• A Trade Agreement was signed between India and Mozambique in 1982. During the second Joint Commission meeting held in New Delhi in February 2009, the Indian side handed over a draft of a new trade agreement. The Mozambican side had conveyed in August 2013 that they were ready to sign the agreement, which is presently under consideration on our side.

• Agreement on Bilateral Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investment (BIPA) was signed in February 2009. The agreement has been ratified by both the governments.

• Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), MOU on cooperation on promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and MOU on cooperation in the field of Mineral Resources were signed in September 2010.

• Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of Oil and Gas was signed in November 2014.   

• Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of New and Renewable Energy was signed during state visit of President Nyusi in August 2015.

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  June 2022