Diffident Capital and Detained Development: Indian Coal Mining in South Africa

• In Event: 518 - Section on Political Economy of the World System. Open Topic on Political Economy of the World System

Abstract

India has become a significant investor in Africa, and like China, Indian business endeavours have concentrated on resource extraction, though recently on manufacturing as well. The question that informs this paper is, how far might the Indian investment in Africa be understood as a South-South development project, given the BRICS partnership, historical connections and comparable postcolonial circumstances of India and South Africa? I explore this question by examining the interaction of an Indian multi-national company-owned colliery with the surrounding local communities in South Africa. I find that the Indian business practices, shaped by and dependent on the flexibility of Indian institutions are mismatched with South African institutions and society. The capacity of the company as a business is constrained by the state and labor union imposed limits to flexible production. The inability to deliver development to the local communities has made the mining region a contentious zone. I argue that the inability of Indian capital and state to dictate terms of engagement with South African state and institutions might indicate a defining feature of South-South capital flows, of the absence of a hegemon-subordinate relationship. The evidence for this paper is derived from field research conducted in an Indian multi-national company-owned colliery in Mpumalanga province in South Africa. To highlight the peculiarity and comparability of the Indian experience in South Africa, I contrast that with the coal mining operations of the company in Chhattisgarh state in India. (

Author

• Manjusha S. Nair, National University of Singapore