The digital revolution is fundamentally reshaping how nations approach development, governance, and economic growth. As Africa stands at the threshold of unprecedented digital transformation, India emerges as a natural partner, offering both experience and technological solutions that could accelerate the continent’s journey toward a digitally empowered future. With India’s proven track record in building digital public infrastructure and Africa’s vast potential for technological upsurge, this partnership represents one of the most promising South-South collaborations of the 21st century.
India’s Digital Transformation Journey
India’s digital transformation story is remarkable. India’s digital economy grew 2.4 times faster than the economy between 2014 and 2019, generating around 62.4 million jobs. the size of the digital economy has grown from $107.7 billion in 2014 to $222.5 billion in 2019.1 Newly digitizing sectors, including agriculture, education, energy, financial services, healthcare, logistics, and retail, as well as government services and labour markets, could each create $10 billion to $150 billion of incremental economic value in 2025 as digital applications in these sectors help raise output, save costs and time, reduce fraud, and improve matching of demand and supply.2 The Digital India initiative, launched in 2015, created a comprehensive framework that transformed government services, financial inclusion, and digital infrastructure. The cornerstone of India’s success lies in its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), a set of foundational digital systems that enable secure interactions between people, businesses and governments. India, through India Stack, became the first country to develop all three foundational DPIs: digital identity (Aadhaar), real-time fast payment (UPI) and a platform to safely share personal data. India’s UPI processes over 12 billion transactions monthly, while Aadhaar covers over 1.3 billion citizens, making it the world’s largest biometric identity system.3 While smaller nations like Estonia and Singapore achieved digital excellence through favourable demographics and resources, India demonstrated that large-scale digital transformation is possible with limited resources and vast diversity, making it particularly relevant for African nations facing similar challenges.
India’s Digital Footprint in Africa
India’s development partnership with Africa is evolving into digitally-driven collaboration, aligned with the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2030).4 With a Pan-African e-Network project, which was launched in 2009, India has provided telemedicine and tele-education services across 53 African countries through satellite and fibre-optic infrastructure.5
Countries like Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda have benefited from Indian IT investments and computer donations. The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Accra demonstrates India’s commitment to building local capacity. 6 Through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program, thousands of African professionals have received training in digital technologies.7
India’s Digital Public Infrastructure approach combines minimalist technology interventions, public-private governance, and vibrant market innovation, making it particularly attractive for African governments seeking developmental impact with limited budgets. The scalability and cost-effectiveness of India’s solutions offer proven, open-source frameworks adaptable to local contexts.
The partnership model centres on infrastructure development, capacity building, and innovation collaboration. India’s expertise in standard digital platforms can help African countries avoid fragmentation that has hindered continental integration. Emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and IoT present collaboration opportunities, with India’s capabilities combined with Africa’s upspringing potential creating innovative solutions for agricultural productivity and healthcare delivery.
Nigeria’s Case Study
Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, exemplifies digital transformation potential and challenges. The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS 2020–2030) outlines ambitious goals for digital infrastructure, human capital development, and innovation ecosystems.8 With over 200 million people and rapidly growing internet penetration, Nigeria represents a massive market for digital services.
India has recently intensified its influence in Nigeria’s digital transformation through strategic partnerships, including Airtel Africa’s multi-year, multi-million dollar collaboration with Xtelify (the digital arm of Bharti Airtel India) to deploy advanced software platforms across Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure. Additionally, India-Nigeria partnerships have focused on revolutionising agricultural practices through digital transformation and precision agriculture technologies, emphasising sustainable farming practices and crop monitoring systems. Yet, Nigeria faces challenges, including inadequate power supply, limited broadband infrastructure, digital literacy gaps, and cybersecurity concerns. However, India’s experience overcoming similar obstacles through public-private partnerships and regulatory reforms provides valuable lessons. Recent fintech, e-commerce, and digital banking developments demonstrate Nigeria’s potential for rapid digital adoption.
Future Outlook
The India-Africa digital partnership requires multifaceted approaches addressing infrastructure, capacity, and innovation simultaneously. Policy coordination, private sector engagement, and civil society participation are essential. Establishing joint working groups, ministerial dialogues, and business partnerships can create sustainable collaboration frameworks. Investment in digital infrastructure must complement human capital investments. Abia State in Nigeria exemplifies this integrated approach, where Governor Dr. Alex Otti signed an MoU with MTN Nigeria to accelerate digital transformation covering broadband infrastructure, cloud services, and e-commerce development (Abia State Government, 2024). Concurrently, the state has established the Abia State Basic and Secondary Education Management Information System (ASBS-EMIS) as a web-based platform designed to enhance educational management in rural areas.9 This demonstrates how infrastructure development can directly support human capital development through educational technology.
With a progressive trajectory of developing low-cost, offline-capable educational solutions, Indian edtech companies could form collaborations to address similar connectivity challenges in Abia’s rural schools. Such collaboration could extend beyond technology provision to include teacher training, assessment systems, and creating multilingual educational content that preserves local languages while improving learning outcomes. Expanding these programs with joint research initiatives and technology transfer agreements will build necessary local expertise. Finally, creating Africa-India Digital Innovation Hubs in key cities around Africa could catalyse technological collaboration and entrepreneurship development, ensuring this partnership becomes a transformative force reshaping both continents’ technological landscapes.
References
Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education. (2025). https://www.mobse-abiastategov.ng/
Leave a Reply