Indian businesses eyeing mining opportunities in South Africa

The South African government’s recent decision to ease mining regulations and privatise infrastructure throws open new opportunities for Indian business and industry leaders to explore new shores for setting up manufacturing and skill-transfer units.

“South Africa is a large and developed economy within Africa. It has very well-established mineral reserves and resources, along with very well-developed infrastructure, be it road, rail, or ports, which can handle large volumes of commodities. It also has a very good way of conducting mining operations with very good regulatory frameworks,” elaborated Nitin Agrawal, Group Chairman of Oza Holdings, which has assets in the mining and manufacturing sectors.

Agarwal was part of a delegation of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance in South Africa recently, where Indian Consul General in Johannesburg, Mahesh Kumar, hosted the group for interactions with local business leaders, government representatives and business school leaders.

Talking about the scope for Indian businesses to grow and benefit from the opportunities in the country, Kumar said the South African government had embarked on a major venture to iron out challenges and deterioration in infrastructure that has been hampering progress in the mining sector.

“We believe that the India-South Africa partnership in respect of mining and infrastructure investment will grow with capital machinery coming from India. Over the last few years, we have observed that automobiles and mining machinery was traditionally a Eurocentric business, whereas now, the industry has focused on the East, with India and China dominating these markets,” he said.

Kumar said the diamond cutting and polishing business was set up in the IDZ (industrial development zone), which is what the government of South Africa seeks – investment into beneficiation, local skills transfer, and local employment along with benefiting Indian businesses to set up manufacturing units in Africa. Consul General Kumar also invited Indian business to come forth with solutions that could work for both South Africa and the southern African region as India explores new opportunities there.