Marrakech – Morocco is making a calculated bid for Indian industry. The North African country, freshly ranked as Africa’s leading industrial economy by the African Development Bank (AfDB), is positioning itself as a strategic gateway for Indian defense, automotive, and aerospace companies seeking access to European and African markets – a proposition it frames as complementary to the India-EU free trade pact and a hedge against market concentration.
Morocco’s ambassador to India, Mohamed Maliki, laid out the case in an interview with the Economic Times of the Times of India published Monday.
Morocco offers Indian businesses “a strategic gateway to European and African markets, supported by modern industrial platforms and extensive trade partnerships,” Maliki told the publication. He identified “automotive, aerospace, green technologies, and logistics” as sectors with the deepest bilateral potential.
Maliki, who also serves as dean of African and Arab ambassadors in India, attributed Morocco’s industrial ascent to “decades of sustained efforts, ambitious national strategies and investments” under the strategic leadership of King Mohammed VI.
The kingdom – already a key phosphate supplier to India – is now Africa’s largest automotive exporter and one of the fastest-growing production hubs globally.
Central to the pitch is the Tanger Med Port, connected to more than 180 global ports and capable of delivering components to southern Europe within 24 to 48 hours. Morocco provides “a rare combination of proximity to Europe, access to African markets and long-term policy continuity,” according to the ambassador.
That proposition now carries institutional weight. The AfDB’s 2025 Africa Industrialization Index, released May 25 at the Bank Group’s Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, placed Morocco ahead of South Africa as the continent’s top industrial economy.
The index tracked 54 countries from 2010 to 2024 and found that 41 improved their industrialization scores, with continental performance up 6%.
Morocco’s rise to the top reflected sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and disciplined policy execution. Africa as a whole, however, still accounts for less than 2% of global manufacturing output and just 1.4% of manufacturing exports.
A companion study – the inaugural Africa Industrial Investment Barometer, produced by WITBA Invest and Trendeo – reinforced the finding. North Africa attracted 56% of cumulative continental industrial investment between 2020 and 2025, with Morocco and Egypt at the forefront.
The region led on all three of the barometer’s indices: industrial diversification, attractiveness, and productive anchoring.
The India-Morocco industrial corridor already has a working proof of concept in the defense sector. In September 2025, Tata Advanced Systems Limited – a subsidiary of India’s Tata Group – inaugurated a plant in Berrechid, outside Casablanca, to manufacture WhAP 8×8 armored combat vehicles.
The TASM facility, established under an investment agreement signed in September 2024, produces vehicles for the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and for export across Africa.
It launched with 35% local component integration, a figure set to reach 50% through investment in training and the integration of national suppliers.
The plant is projected to generate 90 direct and 250 indirect jobs, with a medium-term production scale-up plan. Its inauguration followed a bilateral defense cooperation agreement signed between Rabat and New Delhi covering joint training, cyberdefense, military health, and industrial collaboration.
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