By Francis Kokutse
Lagos, Jan 17 (IANS) With Indian outreach to Africa steadily growing, a major Indian products and services show is being mounted here later this month amid high hopes that trade between India and Nigeria will pick up this year after a lull in the past two years.
"As a result of global recession, trade dropped for a while but there are signs that things would improve this year," S.K. Makhijani, counsellor at the Indian High Commission in Abuja, told IANS in a telephone interview.
As part of efforts to boost trade, a four-day Indian Products and Services Exhibition (IPASE) is being organised in Lagos from Jan 29 to Feb 1.
A statement issued by the high commission said: "IPASE is being organised in cooperation with the Nigeria-India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) and is intended to afford a unique opportunity to the providers of Indian goods and services in Nigeria to showcase their wares and projects at a central venue in Victoria Islands, Lagos."
IPASE is open to all stakeholders engaged in providing Indian goods and services to the Nigerian market. Both outdoor and indoor space is available.
According to the high commission, India-Nigeria trade reached the milestone of $10.2 billion during 2008-2009, but fell to $8.7 billion in 2009-10 due to global recession. Indian exports to Nigeria were dominated by manufactured items such as machinery and instruments, pharmaceuticals, electronics and transport equipment.
The balance of trade has been in Nigeria's favour due to large Indian imports of crude.
There are over 100 Indian companies estimated to have footprints in Nigeria. Prominent among them being Bharti AirTel, Tata, Bajaj Auto, Birla Group, Kirloskar, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, NIIT, ApTech New India Assurance, Bhushan Steel, KEC and Skipper Electricals.
India has pole positions in Nigeria's pharmaceuticals, steel and power transmission sectors. In addition, Nigeria- based ethnic Indians are also economically very active in consumer manufacturing and retailing, construction and air servICE.