High Commission of India

Accra, Ghana

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL BRIEF

The Joint Trade Committee (JTC) between India and Ghana was established in 1981. The first JTC was held in 1992. The second JTC was held on 20 & 21 January 2011 in New Delhi. The third JTC was held on 21 July 2022 in New Delhi, co-chaired by the Joint Secretary (FT), MoCI and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Ghana. The JTC acknowledged the need to explore avenues for strengthening and diversifying the trade basket. Also discussed were recognition of India Pharmacopoeia by Ghana, cooperation in SMEs, S&T, accounting & finance and trade promotion.

Bilateral Trade

Bilateral trade between India and Ghana crossed the US$ 1 billion mark in 2011-12. Since then, total trade has grown gradually but then sharply increased to US$ 3.6 billion in 2015-16. The following year, trade contracted by a billion dollar but rebounded with growth rates of 27.6% in 2017-18 to US$ 3.3 billion and 33.9% in 2018-19 to US$ 4.4 billion – the highest ever achieved. Trade dropped 46.6% to US$ 2.39 billion in 2019-20 and picked up last year and registered 16.5% growth to US$ 2.6 billion as economies slowly emerged from the pandemic. (ref. Table).

(In US$ million)

(Source: GoI’s Department of Commerce. (https://commerce.gov.in/trade-statistics/)

Bilateral trade sustained growth generally in the last ten years due to India’s growing imports in value as well as number of products. India’s export recorded US$ 800 million a decade ago (2011-12 & again in 2013-14) but dropped to between US$ 617 million and US$ 717 million for the seven years. India’s export to Ghana was back on track in 2020-21 with US$ 862.5 million, which increased 28.6% last year and reached US$ 1.1 billion. As a result of the rise in India’s import from Ghana, bilateral trade has been mostly in favour of Ghana, which had a record trade surplus of US$ 3 billion in 2018-19. The trade gap is closing, as India export more and import less from Ghana in the past three years.

The major items of India’s export to Ghana are engineering goods, agricultural machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, vehicles, electrical and electronic goods, plastics products, iron and steel & articles, beverages & spirits, cereals, and textiles. India’s import from Ghana are gold, cocoa, cashew nuts, wood products, timber.

Export Target: As part of India’s vision become a US$ 5-trillion economy by 2025, an export target of US$ 1079 million to Ghana was set for the first time in 2021-22. The target was achieved with India’s exporting goods and services worth US$ 1109.46 million last year. For 2022-23, the export target is US$ 1230 million against India’s export for the first half (Apr-Sep 2022) recorded US$ 539.86 million, as compared to US$ 549.78 million last year.

India’s Investment in Ghana

India is one of the top investors in Ghana. In 2021, India was the 2nd largest investors by number of projects with 25 [after China] and the 3rd by value of FDIs aggregating to US$ 98.84 million [after Singapore, Australia]. India’s FDIs constituted 7.61% of the country’s total FDIs of US$ 1,298.66 million in 271 projects in 2021.

Between 1994 and 2021, Indian wholly-owned companies and JVs invested FDIs of US$ 2.2 billion in 870 projects. Indian investments are spread across diverse sectors such as pharmaceuticals, construction, manufacturing, trading, agro-processing, etc. as follows:

Source: Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC)

Business Exchanges

1. CII-Exim Bank Conclave:

2. 17th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave 2022 on India Africa Growth Partnership (19-20 July 2022)

2. Business Promotion Events:

1. India-Ghana Business Summit on Strengthening India-Ghana Business Relations Post-Covid (6 April 2022)

2. Business Meet on Exploring Opportunities in Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare in Ghana (26 April 2022)

3. Africa-India Partnership Day on Africa’s Transition through Solar: Sharing India’s Experience (26 May 2022)

3. Indian Business Delegations to Ghana:

1. 48 Indian companies for Agritech West Africa 2022 (23-25 March 2022)

2. 50 Indian companies for West Africa Pharma & Healthcare (27-29 April 2022)

3. 15 Indian universities for Study in India Expo (13&14 June 2022)

4. 28 Indian companies for India-Africa ICT Expo (14&15 September 2022)

5. 36 Indian companies for Power & Energy Ghana Expo 2022 (14-16 Nov. 2022)

4. Participation sought of Ghanaian Businesses in Indian Business Events:

1. Indus Food 2022 and Indus Food Tech 2022 (8-10 January 2022)

2. Virtual BSM in services sector during 10th VGGS 2022 (8 January 2022)

3. Virtual HVAC-R India Expo 2022 (18-22 January 2022)

4. FIEO Virtual Manufacturing Africa B2B Expo (1-3 February 2022)

5. Virtual India Telecom 2022 (8-10 February 2022)

6. ICC Electrical and Power Equipment Fair (17-19 February 2022)

7. Global Summit on Flexible Packaging (23-24 February 2022)

8. Virtual India Int’l Ceramic & Building Materials Fair (8-11 March 2022)

9. Capexil Printing & Publishing from India (14-16 March 2022)

10. 22nd IndiaSoft 2022 (23-24 March 2022)

11. Virtual International Conference on Advancements and Challenges in the Food Packaging Industry (23&24 March 2022)

12. ACMA 6th iAutoConnect 2022 (23&24 March 2022)

13. 15th Indian Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Show (30 March-3 April 2022)

14. Capexil India Packaging Fair (25-27 April 2022)

15. AAHAR International Food & Hospitality Fair (26-30 April 2022)

16. 4th Windergy India 2022 (27-29 April 2022)

17. 9th SVUM International Trade Show 2022 (6-9 May 2022)

18. IMC India Calling Conference 2022 (Virtual Conference) (6 May 2022)

19. 16th Indian Fashion Jewellery and Accessories Show (20-22 June 2022)

20. Digital India Week 2022 (4-9 July 2022)

21. 11th India International Silk Fair (28-30 July 2022)

22. Pharmatech Expo & Labtech Expo 2022 (5-7 August 2022)

23. 8th India Int’l MSME Startup Expo & Summit 2022 (25-27 August 2022)

24. 7th EIMA Agrimach India (1-3 September 2022)

25. Water and Plumb Skills Expo 2022 (8&9 September 2022)

26. Virtual Delhi Book Fair (13-17 September 2022)

27. FICCI LEADS 2022 (20&21 September 2022)

28. IPHEX & Global Regulators Conclave (21-23 September 2022)

29. India Mobile Congress 2022 (1-3 October 2022)

30. 54th IHGF Delhi Fair (Autumn) 2022 (14-18 October 2022)

31. 12th Edition of DefExpo 2022 (18-22 October 2022)

32. Virtual ICC Electrical and Power Equipment Fair (1-3 November 2022)

33. ICC Textile Buyer Seller Meet and Conference (4-5 November 2022)

34. 11th India Stonemart 2022 (10-13 November 2022)

35. 17th Higher Education Summit 2022 (17-19 November 2022)

36. International Rubber Conference 2022 (24-26 November 2022)

37. PHDCCI BSM during Packmach Asia Expo (7-9 December 2022)

38. India International Textile Machinery Expo 2022 (8-13 December 2022)

39. 9th Edition of SVUM 2022 International Trade Show

5. Virtual Events:

1. Digital Session on Business Opportunities between India and Ghana with CII, AGI (16 February 2022)

2. India-Ghana BSM with MPEDA (11 February 2022)

3. India-Ghana BSM with PEPC (23 February 2022)

4. India-Ghana BSM with TEPC (25 March 2022)

5. India-Ghana ICT Business Networking Meet with ESC (28 July 2022)

6. India-Ghana Business Meet/BSM with PEPC (2 August 2022)

7. India-Ghana Webinar-cum-B2B Session on Exploring Pharmaceutical Opportunities with Pharmexcil (23 November 2022)

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December 2022