The South African Indian community, part of India’s global diaspora, can help increase trade and investment between South Africa and India, argues Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) CEO Sujata Sudarshan.

“There’s a lot of scope for investment, either way. The diaspora [in South Africa] can act as a catalyst. The OIFC was set up to connect the diaspora with India. It works the other way, too. We had a diaspora meet here [in South Africa] in 2010. India sees South Africa as a very important market.”
“We greatly value our [global] diaspora,” recently affirmed Indian High Commissioner to South Africa Virendra Gupta. “South Africa has a very large concentration of the Indian diaspora: about 1.5-million. More than 100 Indian com-panies have resident offices in South Africa. “Together, it makes a very sizable canvas. We have always regarded them [the diaspora] as a bridge between India and their host countries. A very valuable resource, if I may use that word, for both India and South Africa.”
He highlighted that, while big corporations could look after themselves, medium and smaller companies seeking to internationalise their operations needed reliable partners in the foreign markets they sought to enter. With regard to India and South Africa, this opened opportunities for the South African Indian community, both regarding South African companies seeking to enter India and Indian companies looking to enter South Africa.
“We are aware that it will be a mutually beneficial relationship if the diaspora engages with India,” stated Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. “The Indian diaspora is very well placed here [in South Africa],” cited Gupta, highlighting the respect in which the community is held. “It is very well placed to par-take in this partnership between India and South Africa . . . and take advantage of the huge opportunities that exist.” India has a programme, the Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), under which foreign citizens of Indian ancestry can obtain a PIO Card. This card, in turn, allows visa-free travel to India. It exempts holders wishing to study in India from student visa requirements and exempts them from employment visa requirements if they wish to take jobs in India, among other benefits.

“The OIFC is to provide guidance and help to overseas Indians wanting to do business in India,” explained Mehrishi. Sudarshan explained that the OIFC is a non-for-profit public/private partnership between the Indian government and the Confederation of Indian Industry. The centre’s agenda is set by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. The OIFC’s functions include the promotion of overseas Indian investment into India, the establishment and main- tenance of a diaspora knowl-edge network and acting as a clearing house for all invest-ment-related information. To these ends it disseminates information, undertakes busi-ness facilitation and match-making and partners with other bodies, such as the Indian Business and Professional Council and the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. The centre was set up in 2007 and is still developing it services.
In general, all South Africans enjoyed an advantage in India because of the long and close ties between the two countries, pointed out Mehrishi. These included Mahatma Gandhi’s long (some 20-year) residence in South Africa, during which he developed his philosophy of nonviolent protest. “This [South African] soil is sacred for us” as a result, he asserted. He added that, during the period of apartheid, “South Africa had a very special and emotive place in the hearts of Indians. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu were household names in India long before any [official] links between the countries.” Gupta also referred to Gandhi’s time in South Africa. “When we became independent, other leaders [that is, India’s postindependence leadership] had a strong sense of empathy with anticolonial struggles [including in South Africa],” he added.
Sudarshan, Gupta and Mehrishi were all participants in a recent seminar jointly organised by the High Commission of India and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) of the University of Pretoria, entitled the ‘Role of the Indian diaspora in leveraging commercial and economic relationships’. The seminar was held on the GIBS campus in Johannesburg.