India pledges $680 mn package for Mauritius to boost trade, security

India pledged a $680 million package for Mauritius, including $25 million budgetary aid, to strengthen infrastructure, maritime security, and bilateral trade in local currencies

In its continuing efforts to sustain its influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) amid an expanding Chinese footprint, India on Thursday pledged $680 million special economic package for Mauritius, including $25 million budgetary assistance for 2025-26 (FY26).

 

After the delegation-level talks between Indian and Mauritian officials, led by the prime ministers (PMs) of the two countries, PM Narendra Modi said the two nations are working to enable bilateral trade in local currencies following successful launch of UPI and RuPay cards in Mauritius.

 

Modi said India is committed to protect the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. India’s assistance, in the form of grants and lines of credit, also includes support for development and surveillance of the marine protected area of the Chagos archipelago, which houses a US-British airbase on the island of Diego Garcia. 

 

The visiting Mauritian PM, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, urged Indian business to invest in his country as Mauritius has preferential access to a lot of markets in Africa. He pointed out that Mauritius is a member of the African Union, Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), and has several double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) from “which Indian business people can also benefit, it will be a win-win situation”. 

Indian and Mauritian delegations also signed seven agreements to strengthen bilateral ties after their talks led by the Indian PM and his Mauritian counterpart in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Modi. Ramgoolam is on an eight-day state visit to India along with six of his cabinet ministers. The visit began on September 9.

 

A key feature of India’s assistance and economic package to Mauritius will be aimed at augmenting the latter’s maritime security and defence preparedness to safeguard the waters around that country.

 

India will also help Mauritius in the surveillance of the Chagos marine protected area. As a result of its recent treaty with the UK, Mauritius now has a much larger EEZ to protect and secure its interest, and India is a preferred partner in this pursuit, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a briefing later in the day.

 

Modi, in his remarks after the delegation-level talks, congratulated Ramgoolam and the people of Mauritius on the conclusion of the Chagos agreement, terming it a “historic victory” for the island nation's sovereignty. "India has always supported decolonisation and the full recognition of Mauritius' sovereignty," he said.

 

The UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in May, but retained control of the military base under a 99-year lease. The marine protected area, where commercial fishing is banned, is one of the world’s largest. Ramgoolam sought India’s help in surveillance of the “vast EEZ” as his country lacked the capacity. He said Mauritius wants vessels with its flags to patrol the area. The British offered us a vessel, but we said we will take one from India because symbolically it would be better, Ramgoolam said at the joint media briefing with Modi. He said the DTAA between the two countries could be improved. “Let’s see how things go,” he added.