ADB to provide $10 billion assistance to India over 5 years

NEW DELHI: Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide loan of $2 billion annually for five years till 2017 to India to create jobs, enhance investment reforms, and improve infrastructure.

"The ADB and Government of India have agreed to a new country partnership strategy for 2013-2017 which supports the country's 12th Five Year Plan .... The strategy comes with a financial envelope of around $10 billion...," the Manila based lender said in a statement.

The resource envelope for sovereign operations is about $2 billion per year for the next five years and India will remain ADB's largest single country borrower, it added.

It further said that ADB's allocated resources to India could double in amount if third-party financing and lending to private and state-owned companies is taken into account.

The country partnership strategy, it added, supports the Five Years Plan to create jobs for youth, enhances ongoing investment reforms, and improves infrastructure in critical areas such as energy, transport, urban services and water.

The agency will also partner with India to anchor transactions that can tap national, regional and international capital markets which can help to shift savings into infrastructure development.

"India is taking credible steps to stabilise the economy and its currency, modernise its infrastructure, and promote social programmes ... This strategy is a reflection of the government's desire to bring high, inclusive and sustainable growth, create jobs, and cut red tape," said Juan Miranda, Director General for ADB's South Asia Department.

The strategy combines physical investments with knowledge products to target emerging issues such as urbanisation, water scarcity, climate change, emission controls, internet connectivity, vocational training, and development of capital markets, said ADB, which is owned by 67 members.