The volume of trade between India and Nigeria has grossed over $14.6 billion (about N2.263 trillion), the High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Mahesh Sacdev has said. Sacdev drooped the hint in Abuja at the India Day of the on-going sixth Abuja International Trade Fair.
He said the bilateral trade between the two countries has been very healthy, adding that the trade volume between them had doubled in the past three years and Nigeria export is about to grow significantly.
Sacdev said the purchase of Zain Nigeria by Airtel Limited an India company last year also gave boost to the trade volume between the two countries.
According to him, India was the largest foreign investor in Nigeria in year 2010.
“We are very happy with it and we believe that this envelop of investment will also be expanding as a major Indian drive to boost investment in Nigeria,” he said. “We believe that the entry of companies like Nagar Junar which is to set up $2.6 billion fertilizer plant, Indoramar which will also set up another fertilizer plant of over $1 billion in Nigeria will boost the investment further,” he said.
Sacdev also said that Nigeria has over $10 billion trade surplus with India. “We are Nigeria’s second largest trading partner and we are increasingly finding resonance with Indian consumers in diverse areas, from petroleum products to motorcycles,” he said.