India pitches to enhance New Development Bank's emergency assistance from $ 1 billion to $ 10 billion

India has pitched for enhancing the emergency assistance of New Development Bank to $10 billion from $1 billion now.

The issue was flagged by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman at annual meeting of the board of governors of the National Development Bank (NDB) via video conference on Monday

Sitharaman appreciated the NDB’s effort on fast tracking of financial assistance of about $5 billion to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries.


This included the $1 billion emergency assistance extended to India towards battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NDB was established by the BRICS countries in 2014 for the purpose of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries.

The bank has so far approved 14 Indian projects for an amount of nearly $4.2 billion.

She outlined the measures taken by the Indian government in tackling the pandemic such as the Rs 1.7 lakh crore package for poorer sections and the Reserve Bank of India’s liquidity easing policies.

While commending the bank for establishing itself as a credible global financial institution, Sitharaman also askedit to take appropriate actions to join the G20 forum along with other Multilateral Development Bank (MDBs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs).