GIFT City family offices can route investments through Mauritius to Africa: Sayed Muhammad Aadil Ameer Meea
Gandhinagar, August 10
Family offices from GIFT City can route their investment through Mauritius to go to Africa, said Sayed Muhammad Aadil Ameer Meea, Minister of Industry, SME and Cooperatives for the Government of the Republic of Mauritius.
Speaking to ANI at an event, Meea said India and Mauritius have significant scope for collaboration, with Mauritius offering access to key African markets through regional blocs such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
"Family offices from GIFT City, be it FinTech, be it banks, can route their investment through Mauritius to go to Africa," he noted, stressing a new industry bill would soon be introduced in Parliament to facilitate such investments.
He further added, Mauritius' membership of COMESA and SADC, along with its double taxation avoidance treaties with several African countries, makes it an attractive gateway for Indian companies seeking to invest in Africa, offering access to duty-free markets. "So if any Indian company wants to invest in Africa, they can route it through Mauritius and have duty-free access," he said.
According to the data shared by the High Commission of India, over the last five years, India has remained one of Mauritius' leading trading partners. In 2024, India accounted for 11 per cent of Mauritius' total imports, ranking third among its main import sources. Apart from this, India's exports to Mauritius stood at USD 766 million in 2024.
India's key exports to Mauritius include pharmaceuticals, cotton, cereals, motor vehicles and mineral fuels. India also supplies major raw materials to Mauritius' local industries, including yarn and fabrics for the textile and clothing sector. "Cumulative FDI equity inflows from Mauritius to India during the period April 2000 - March 2025 amounted to USD 180 billion (25% of total FDI inflows into India over this period)," the release said.
further, The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) came into force on April 1, 2021. Since its implementation, Indian exporters have used the preferential tariff benefits through 1,956 Certificates of Origin.
The number of tariff lines exported to Mauritius also rose 20.9 per cent, from 3,593 in FY22 to 4,345 in FY26, with exports across these lines valued at around USD 473 million, indicating greater export diversification and market access, as per the data shared by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in July.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Interesting to see the numbers — $180 billion in FDI from Mauritius is massive! But I hope the government is also ensuring transparency and proper tax compliance. We don't want this to become another route for round-tripping of funds. Need strong regulatory oversight while promoting legitimate investments.
Finally, we're using our historical ties with Mauritius strategically! This is exactly what India needs — using trusted partners to create new trade corridors. The CECPA agreement has already shown good results with the 20.9% increase in tariff lines. Looking forward to seeing more Indian companies making inroads into Africa through this route.
As someone who has worked in cross-border finance, this is a well-thought-out strategy. The double taxation avoidance treaties that Mauritius has with African nations are indeed valuable. It's smart for India to leverage these existing structures rather than creating new ones from scratch. Efficient and practical!
Great to see GIFT City being positioned as a serious player in global finance! The pharmaceutical exports to Mauritius are encouraging too. But we need to ensure that the new industry bill mentioned by the Minister actually simplifies the process for small and medium enterprises, not just the big corporates. Yaar, MSMEs should also benefit from this.
This is such a positive development! The textile sector will particularly benefit since Mauritius needs yarn and fabrics — and we're already supplying those. With 1,956 Certificates of Origin used, the preferential tariff benefits are clearly working. India-Africa trade is going to boost significantly, in sha Allah. 🙏
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