Embassy of India

Cairo, Egypt

India - Egypt Economic & Commercial Relations

1. Egypt has traditionally been one of India’s most important trading partners in the African continent. The India-Egypt Bilateral Trade Agreement has been in operation since March 1978 and is based on the Most Favored Nation clause. According to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), India was Egypt’s 5th largest trading partner in the period April 2022 -Dec 2022. It was the 11th largest importer of Egyptian goods and the 5th largest exporter to Egypt during the same time.

2. Bilateral trade reached US$ 5.45 billion for the first time in FY 2012-13. The trade volume declined gradually from US$ 4.95 billion in 2013-14 to US$ 4.77 billion in FY 2014-15 and to US$ 3.23 billion in 2016-17 due to general economic slowdown and decline in oil prices. However, trade witnessed growth again from 2017-18 onwards to reach US$ 3.68 billion in FY 2017-18 and US $ 4.55 billion in 2018-19. During FY 2019- 2020, the volume of trade was US $ 4.5 billion and during 2020-2021, it reached US $ 4.15 billion. During FY 2021-22 it reached a peak with US$ 7.265 Billion with US$ 3.744 Billion Indian Exports and US$ 3.521 Indian Imports. The latest bilateral trade reached US$ 5.175 Billion in (April 22-Jan 23) with US$ 3.473 Billion Indian Exports and US$ 1.702 Billion Indian Imports.

3. Bilateral trade figures in USD Billion for the period (FY 2011-22 and from April 22-Jan 23 ) are provided below:

Source: DGCIS of INDIA

I. India’s Exports to Egypt

India's top exported items to Egypt in April 2022-December 2022 were Petroleum Oils (14.4%), Meat (13.5%), Ferro-alloys (5.2%), Rice (2.6%) and Flat rolled products of Iron (2.2%).

II. India’s Imports from Egypt

India's top imported items from Egypt for April 2022-December 2022 were Petroleum Oil (39%), Petroleum Gas (19.3 %), Chemical Fertilizers (12.1%), Ammonia (6.6%) and Phosphoric Acid (4.7%).

Indian Investments in Egypt

Over 450 Indian companies are registered in Egypt, of which around 50 are active in various sectors with a combined investment exceeding US$ 3.15 billion. Approximately half of them, are joint ventures or wholly owned Indian subsidiaries while the rest operate through their representative offices. Major Indian investments in Egypt include TCI Sanmar (with a value of US$ 1.5 billion), Alexandria Carbon Black, Kirloskar, Dabur India, Flex P Films, SCIB Paints, Godrej, Mahindra and Monginis. Indian companies are present in a range of sectors like apparel, agriculture, chemicals, energy, automobiles, retail and others. Overall, these companies provide direct and indirect employment to approximately 35,000 Egyptians. TCI Sanmar has announced plans for additional investments of US$ 400 million and Flex P Films also is increasing their investments by US$ 230 million in the coming years. There are also interest from Indian companies like Allengers (Medical Devices), Platinum Industries (Chemicals), etc to invest in Egypt in the months ahead to make use of FTAs that Egypt has with the regional countries in Africa, EU and the Middle East. Indian startup company, ZoomCar in November 2021, launched its operations in Egypt with a fleet of around 50 vehicles.

Indian companies have also executed projects in Egypt. L&T successfully completed Toshka 2 – Wadi Halfa 220 kV double circuit overhead transmission line project. The Overhead Transmission Line was successfully energized on 13 January 2020. Previously, L&T executed 500kV / 220 kV GIS substation projects for Egypt Electricity Transmission Co. in Ain Sokhna and Ras Ghareeb and 220kV overhead transmission line from Safaga to El-Qusair. These projects were worth a total of US$ 133.3 million. Sterling & Wilson (S&W) built a cumulative capacity of 250 MW of Solar PV plants in 5 projects in Aswan in 2018-19, worth a total of US$ 250 million, in addition to a data center project worth US$ 3 million. In February 2020 the company was awarded contract to set up cloud data center for Telecom Egypt in a US $30 million deal apart from a US$ 2 million worth Data Center deal with Vodafone Egypt. In December 2020, S&W took over the Kom Ombo Solar park project from Mahindra Susten following the latter’s withdrawal. In October 2021, Nuberg EPC was awarded 500 TPD Sulfuric Acid Plant Project worth between US$ 50-100 million, its sixth turnkey project in Egypt.

Indian owned company, M/s Va Tech Wabag is currently working on 10 projects of water treatment in Egypt for different Egyptian entities bringing the number of projects to 20. The biggest project is Madinaty Waste Water Treatment Plant with capacity of 60,000 M3/Day. The company employs the latest innovative technology to achieve a very high efficiency and cost effectiveness. Treated water is used for the turning desert landscape by watering green trees, bushes etc. Around 8000 acres of desert land has been converted to a green belt thanks to use of recycled water by VaTech Wabag. The largest project completed by Va Tech Wabag is the Water Treatment Plant for Suez Canal Authority in Port Said with a capacity of 133000 M3/Day

UAE based retailer; Lulu Group opened its first hypermarket in Egypt in December 2015 with an initial investment of around US$ 50 million. In October 2020, Abu Dhabi investment company ADQ was reported to have invested USD 1 billion into Lulu Group to develop more outlets in Egypt. In February 2021. Lulu opened the third branch of its hypermarket in New Cairo, providing 2000 job opportunities directly and indirectly through its three branches.

Egyptian Investments in India

Investments by Egyptian companies in India are about US$ 37 million. El Sewedy group established its presence in Noida (Uttar Pradesh) in 2013 for manufacturing of smart electric meters.  KAPCI Coatings set up their manufacturing plant in Bangalore (Karnataka) to produce car paints with an investment of US $ 15 million. Modern Waterproofing Group (Bitumode) is a multinational group of companies that is engaged in manufacturing a wide range of products for the construction industry including waterproofing membranes and protection boards. It has manufacturing facility in Dahej (Gujarat). In 2021, an Egyptian IT company M/s 700 Apps started operations in Hyderabad and has plans to expand their operations in near future.

Bilateral Investment

IBF

India Business Forum (IBF) in Egypt was launched in 2012 by the Embassy of India, Cairo with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), one of India’s premier business organizations. The CII IBF is a platform for Indian companies in Egypt to share information and raise issues of concern to authorities in Egypt and India. IBF also aims to promote and support the activities of its members in Egypt and play a catalyst role in enhancing trade and investment between the two countries. The Ambassador of India to Egypt is the Patron of the IBF.

Commercial Support Team:

1. Mr. Rav Praveen Singh, IFS, Second Secretary (Commerce)

Phone: +202-27361014

Email: com.cairo@mea.gov.in

2. Mr. Hem Narayan Singh, Attache (Commerce)

Phone: +202-27361014

Email:  attcom.cairo@mea.gov.in

For Commercial Inquiries:

 Mr. Mohamed El Tayb, Commercial Executive

Phone No.: 2736-1014 & 27360052 Ext. 135

E-mail: m.tayb@indembcairo.com

 Mr. Tamer Adel, Commercial Executive

Phone No.: 2736-1014 & 27360052 Ext. 105

E-mail: tamer@indembcairo.com

Mr. Zeyad El Tahry, Marketing Manager

Phone No.: 2736-1014 & 27360052 Ext. 129

E-mail: Zeyadeltahry@indembcairo.com