India’s growing economy and the increasing demand for energy to support its development have opened a new dimension to India–Africa relations. While the India–Africa relationship is not new, the partnership has expanded into new, diverse areas, with energy being foremost among them.

According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, ‘India is the second largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand to 2035, accounting for 18% of the rise in energy’.  Given this basic fact, India’s presence in Africa’s energy sector is founded on simple supply–demand
complementarities.  However, India–Africa energy ties need to be located within a wider context that takes into consideration important realities, debates, forces, pressures and processes, which have the power simultaneously to thwart, propel, and/or reinforce the India–Africa partnership in the energy sector.

The following four crucial processes, from both within and beyond the energy sector, must be kept in mind when analysing India’s energy interests in Africa:

the location of Africa in India’s energy calculus
India’s engagement with Africa beyond the energy sphere
the presence of other actors in Africa’s energy sector; and
the need for the development of a sustainable, inclusive and mutually  beneficial energy sector in Africa