The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today cleared the extension of the Indian Development and Economic Assistance (IDEA) scheme, an initiative for providing grants or project assistance to developing countries in Africa, South Asia and other parts of the developing world, from 2010-11 to 2014-15.
Under the scheme, government-supported Lines of Credit (LoCs) from the Export and Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) have been made available to developing countries for their developmental and other projects as recommended by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The new proposal is for according net additional LoCs of $3,700 Million over the five-year period.
“The scheme will promote India’s political, economic and strategic interests besides building a positive image of India abroad,” an official release said.
Under the scheme, concessional LoCs will be provided through Exim Bank or any other suitable lending agency to the developing countries for supporting such projects as recommended by the ministry. Resources for LoCs will be raised directly by the lending agency from the international debt markets. Concessional LoCs will be backed by a sovereign guarantee, to be given by the recipient or borrowing government, which may in turn be counter-guaranteed by the central government.
An interest equalisation support will be provided from budgetary resources to Exim Bank for enabling them to lend to developing countries on concessional terms. CCE A has approved a proposal of the health ministry for scaling up services for diagnosis, care and management of drug-resistant tuberculosis.