Asian Development Bank has approved a three-year India operations business plan that will provide the country with a lending assistance totalling $6.25 billion to support its inclusive and sustainable growth.
The bank’s management gave approval to the scheme considering that India, as the world’s fourth largest economy now in purchasing power parity terms, was faced with the task of overcoming major developmental challenges. All the same, economic reforms during the past two decades have transformed India into a middle-income country, ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday.
“As India’s policymakers correctly — and with considerable foresight — anticipated around a decade ago, sustaining high growth is not enough. India will also have to ensure that growth is more inclusive,” he said in a release.
While the 1966-founded bank remains “committed to strengthening important sectors such as energy, transportation and urban infrastructure”, ADB has diversified into new sectors such as rural development, water resources management, agribusiness infrastructure development and financial inclusion, Kuroda added.
ADB, headquartered in Manila, has increasingly focused its assistance on states that are economically weaker. Between 1986 and 2010, it supported over 150 projects across eight sectors, with an estimated cost of $24 billion. ADB projects are spread across 20 states throughout India.
