India in July offered to increase its investments in Kenya and for this purpose issued a guide book for Indian investors on doing business in Kenya. Presenting a guide book in Nairobi during his first visit to Kenya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that India is the largest trading partner of Kenya. “India is also the second largest investor here. We will be happy to further remove the imbalance in trade between us. We will also be happy to enhance the level of investment in Kenya,” he said addressing the India-Kenya Business Forum.

“As a demonstration of our commitment for ‘Make it Kenya’, we have printed a guide book on Doing Business in Kenya. This is for guiding the Indian investors to invest here,” he said. Noting many Indian companies have made Kenya their base to operate in the whole of East Africa, Mr Modi added: “Whether it is mines, minerals or machines; all are rewarding areas. We should jointly explore the opportunities.”

An 80-member delegation of business leaders under the aegis of industry chamber FICCI that is accompanying Mr Modi on his official visit to four African nations organised the India-Tanzania Business Forum and India-Kenya Business Forum on July 10 and 11 at Dar-e-Salaam and Nairobi respectively. Among the agreements signed between both countries, two pertained to lines of credit from India to Kenya—one on development of various small and medium enterprises and the other on upgrading a textile factory.

Bilateral trade in 2014-15 was worth a little over $4.2 billion, of which India’s exports to Kenya were valued around $4.1 billion.