Human resource development (HRD) and capacity building are frequently claimed to be at the heart of India's development cooperation. This paper is one of the first to look inside these claims and to review critically the many different facets of India's capacity building. The focus is India's engagement with Africa, and the time-frame is from 1947 till the present. Many of the key HRD elements in India's cooperation are covered: from support to thousands of African students and professionals to learn from Indian institutions to the ambitious HRD pledges of the three India-Africa Forum Summits. India's soft power in Africa is examined along with its support to institutional and digital development.