Nigeria’s economic relationship with India is expanding beyond traditional oil and trade ties, with bilateral trade reaching about US$9 billion in the 2025–26 financial year, representing a 26% increase from the US$7.13 billion recorded in 2024–25, according to Business Insider Africa.
Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria Abishek Singh disclosed the figures in Abuja, noting that around 200 Indian companies operating in Nigeria have created approximately 100,000 jobs. This makes Indian companies the second-largest employer of Nigerians after the Federal Government, according to Singh. The expanding commercial relationship now extends well beyond the traditional oil sector, covering investment, technology, healthcare, security, agriculture and energy. Singh described the relationship as evolving into a multidimensional strategic partnership between the two countries.
India has also extended US$395 million in concessional credit lines to Nigeria, alongside capacity-building programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation initiative. Healthcare remains another important area of cooperation. India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Vertika Rawat, said Indian pharmaceutical exports to Nigeria reached US$315 million in 2024–25, accounting for more than 40% of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical imports. She added that India supplies more than 90% of imports in certain medicine categories.
Rawat said the relationship also presents opportunities for local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria, alongside lessons from India’s experience in expanding health insurance coverage as Nigeria pursues universal healthcare. The latest figures underscore the growing economic importance of Nigeria-India relations, with trade, investment, employment, healthcare and technology increasingly complementing the longstanding diplomatic relationship between Africa’s most populous country and the world’s most populous nation.
