This article covers the economic relationship between India and Senegal and India's development partnership with Senegal: trade figures and the main goods traded, Indian investment and companies in Senegal, lines of credit and buyer's credit projects, grant-funded projects, COVID-19 assistance, demining support and the TEAM-9 initiative. It is based on the MEA brief on India-Senegal relations of April 2026.

Trade and food security

According to the MEA brief of April 2026, trade between India and Senegal "has been the pivot" of the relationship between the two countries. The brief states that India has contributed significantly to the food security of Senegal as the largest supplier of rice, and that almost 90% of the broken rice imported by Senegal is from India.

Bilateral trade figures

The brief gives the following figures, in US$ million, citing the Export Import Database of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India:

  • 2023-24: India's exports 938.57; India's imports 633.92; balance of trade 304.65
  • 2024-25: India's exports 1001.10; India's imports 739.48; total trade 1740.58; balance of trade 261.62
  • 2025-2026 (Apr-Dec 2025): India's exports 817.73; India's imports 700.66; total trade 1518.39; balance of trade 117.07

The total trade figure the brief gives for 2023-24 is not consistent with its export and import figures for that year, so it is not repeated here. The brief states that bilateral trade between India and Senegal is on the rise.

Main items traded

Major items of export from India include cereals, cotton and textiles, pharmaceuticals, plastics and its products, and machinery. Major items of import from Senegal are phosphoric acid, iron scrap and raw cashew.

The brief describes as a favourable recent trend the growing diversification of India's export basket to Senegal to include engineering and machinery exports and other products. It contrasts this with the earlier export portfolio, which it describes as rather skewed, with a predominance of cereals (rice) and textiles.

Indian investment in Senegal

The brief states that India's investment in Senegal, including that of the diaspora, is mainly in construction, tourism, retail, trading, phosphates and pharmaceuticals.

The largest investment in Senegal is in Industries Chimique du Senegal (ICS), which the brief describes as a leading company in Senegal. ICS manufactures phosphoric acid from the rock phosphate available in plenty in Senegal. It is the largest producer of phosphate fertilizer products in sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority of its phosphoric acid exported to India and its fertilizer products exported to other West African countries. In 2014, ICS was acquired by Indorama Group.

Coromandel International, which the brief describes as India's leading phosphatic fertiliser player, has acquired an equity stake in Baobab Mining and Chemicals Corporation (BMCC), a rock phosphate mining company based in Senegal, at an outlay of US$ 19.6 million.

Indian companies in Senegal

The Indian companies the brief lists as present in Senegal are:

  • Tata Group (Tata Motors)
  • Kirloskar Bros
  • NIIT
  • SenegIndia (construction, farming)
  • Ajanta Pharma
  • Sun Pharma
  • Shapoorji Pallonji
  • Kalpataru Power Transmission
  • KEC Ltd.
  • Promac (Engg)
  • Gravita (metals)
  • Solance (batteries)
  • Hercules

The brief adds that many Indian SMEs have in recent times started exploring the Senegalese market for opportunities.

Lines of credit

As of the brief, India has so far offered Senegal a total of 16 Lines of Credit amounting to USD 350 million, and Buyer's Credit of about US$ 305 mn. They cover the sectors of agriculture and irrigation, transport, rural electrification, fisheries, women poverty alleviation, IT training and equipment, medical and railways, among others.

Buyer's credit projects

The Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank of India) extended credit worth US $ 235 million under the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) to Senegal for transmission lines, substations and distribution networks. The projects executed by Kalpataru Power under this credit are:

  • the US$ 200 million 225 KV transmission line project linking Tambacounda-Kolda-Ziguinchor, with extension and rehabilitation of networks, which has been completed
  • a US$ 35 million project in two Lots: Lot I, the construction and installation of a 225 kV overhead Transmission Line from Tanaff-Ziguinchor (92 km), and Lot II, bay extensions at the Tanaff and Ziguinchor substations; both Lots have been completed and are operational

Another buyer's credit project, of USD 69.75 million, for the supply of vehicles (475 buses), spares and related services by Ashoka Leyland, was awarded in 2015 and has been completed.

Entrepreneurship Development and Technology Centre

Under Indian grant assistance, HMT set up an Entrepreneurial Training & Development Centre (CEDT) in Dakar in 2002. As of the brief, the Centre has trained around 6000 students, and over 3000 have been employed in various sectors.

The Government of India offered grant assistance of Indian Rs. 22.95 crore for the upgradation and modernisation of the CEDT. Phase 1 was completed at a cost of Rs 13.66 crore and inaugurated on 25 June 2019. Phase-II, announced during the Vice President's visit in June 2022, was completed in Dec 2023 and inaugurated on 18 Dec 2023.

Other grants

  • India supplied 250 e-Rickshaws (solar powered tri-cycles) with lithium-ion batteries to Senegal on a grant basis, in response to a request made by President Macky Sall to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2019.
  • India gave a grant of Euros 50000/- in 2017 for rehabilitating 200 handicapped Senegalese with prosthetic limbs provided by Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS-Jaipur Foot).
  • In May 2019, the Government of India set up a 42 days artificial limbs fitment camp in Senegal, run by BMVSS, for 500 Senegalese handicapped persons.

COVID-19 assistance

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, India donated a large quantity of essential medicines, including Hydroxychloroquine, to Senegal in August 2020. India also donated 25,000 doses of Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine in March 2021. In addition, 3,24,000 doses of India-made Covid-19 vaccines have reached Senegal under the COVAX facility.

Demining in Casamance

At the request of the Government of Senegal, the Government of India agreed in March 2023 to extend grant support of US$ 1 Million from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for the "Demining for Development in Casamance" project of the National Mine Action Centre of Senegal.

The funding is for technical surveys of locations, the acquisition of advanced equipment and de-mining activities in an area of 69,596 sq. mtr. in the Bignona and Oussouye districts. These districts have unexploded mines laid during the internal armed conflict of the 1980s to early 2000s. The project was inaugurated on 20 May 2025.

TEAM-9

The brief states that Senegal, as the leading Francophone country in West Africa, played a significant role in the creation of TEAM-9 and is also a prominent beneficiary under the programme.