Global News Post: Loan

INDIA: ADB Extends loan to Boost Investment for Agribusiness Infrastructure in Bihar and Develop Nation's Railway System

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $67.6 million loan that will help improve physical and institutional links to support agriculture in the state of Bihar and a US$ 150 million loan for 1st tranche of Railway Sector Investment Program aimed at improving rail freight services and passenger transport routes. So far as the Agribusiness Infrastructure loan of Bihar is concerned, it will help expand agricultural value chains and facilitate better linkages for small scale farmers with processors, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and service providers in Muzaffarpur and Patna-Nalanda regions of Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The loan is the first tranche of a $170 million multitranche financing facility under the Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Investment Program, which was approved by the ADB Board in September, 2010 to boost private sector investment in agribusiness infrastructure in selected regions of Bihar and Maharashtra. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The programme will build physical and institutional links along horticulture integrated value chains (IVCs), which include farmers, processors, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and service providers, a central goal of the Indian government. This will help farmers, traders and other value chain stakeholders to improve their products and processes, become competitive and adapt to changes in end markets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Public-private partnerships (PPP) to design, build, finance and operate the integrated value chains are a key component of the project. Private investors will provide collection services, grading, packaging, storing, processing and cold-storage facilities to a range of high value chains. This will raise the value addition being done from agricultural activities, by reducing post-harvest wastes and integrating small landholders into the agribusiness value chains. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The programme would also enhance livelihoods by benefitting farmers, the landless poor and women through creation of additional employment opportunities along the integrated value chains and ancillary industries thereby raising their income, and improving off-farm income opportunities for the rural poor. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The signatories to the loan were  Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; and  Hun Kim, Country Director for India, on behalf of ADB. The project agreement was signed by Dr. N. Vijaya Lakshmi, Secretary (Agriculture) on behalf of the State Government of Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Speaking on the occasion Rajamony said that the Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Investment Program fills gaps in agribusiness infrastructure value chains from farm gate to market. This innovative and integrated approach will promote a more inclusive agribusiness value chain and promote efficient and market-oriented farming among smallholder farmers. He said that the Program aims to leverage private sector investment and management into agri-business infrastructure through public-private partnership mode. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span dir="LTR"></span> Kim said that the pioneering nature of the investment program is the introduction of integrated value chains and application of public-private partnerships in the agribusiness sector. He said that this will help scale-up future models for agribusiness operations in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Department of Agriculture, Government of Bihar, is the executing agency of the project, which is expected to be implemented over a period of six years, completing in 2017. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This first tranche loan from the ordinary capital resources of ADB has a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, commitment charges of 0.15% and interest rate in accordance with ADB’s LIBOR-based lending facility.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another loan to develop nation's Railway system will help India improve rail services along some of its busiest freight and passenger transport routes, providing double-track for about 840 kilometers of rail routes and electrifying about 640 kilometers. New signaling will also be installed. ADB will also support accounting reforms to improve operational and financial efficiency at Indian Railways. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The program will (i) reduce fuel consumption and enhance energy efficiency, (ii) reduce pollution, (iii) enhance railway safety, (iv) increase the line capacity, benefiting consumers and producers of goods and services, (v) improve staff productivity, and (vi) incorporate innovating financing modalities by pursuing carbon credits under UNFCCC. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The total cost of the Railway Sector Investment Program is US$ 1,144.6 million, out of which loan assistance from ADB is US$ 500 million (in four tranches) and GOI’s funding is US$ 644.6 million. This is the 1st tranche for a total US$ 343.4 million (ADB loan US$ 150 million + GOI share US$ 193.4 million). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The signatories to the loan were  Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; and  Hun Kim, Country Director for India, on behalf of ADB. The project agreement was signed by Satish Agnihotri, Managing Director, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Speaking on the occasion, Joint Secretary, Venu Rajamony said that although railways make up a significant part of India’s transport sector, constraints on high density railway routes present a chronic challenge. This program should improve energy efficiency, safety, reliability, affordability, and environmental sustainability along key railway routes with heavy traffic, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span dir="LTR"></span> Hum Kim, Country Director for India said that our goal is to get people and goods moving more quickly and easily throughout India. Better railways not only help promote environmentally sustainable growth, they build better links between states and open opportunities to more people, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Indian Railways Vision 2020 highlights the need to remove infrastructure bottlenecks, design and deliver market-driven services, provide safe and reliable operations, and build capacity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ADB will also provide a program linked technical assistance of US$ 300,000 to promote sustainable transport modes by monitoring carbon emission reductions from shifting bulk goods from road to rail. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ministry of Railways is the Executing Agency (EA) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) is the Implementing Agency (IA) for the program.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: ADB Extends loan to Boost Investment for Agribusiness Infrastructure in Bihar and Develop Nation's Railway System

NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $67.6 million loan that will help improve physic...

India: Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project in Bihar – Expected to Directly Benefit 1.5 Million Households</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRnuKQEiCxcUnRImvsxOZeec-zRRtk9X8dikaLL1vy8hdH6v11ceOxJ1mzMyR96LLmDq_362q5Fm-V-GTao14FUCDXzdm1_KWPuWcEd61kFniIIvEn1l9pnpsuH9PJ34pk9Jb02M6Xg0/s1600/l2012070941307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRnuKQEiCxcUnRImvsxOZeec-zRRtk9X8dikaLL1vy8hdH6v11ceOxJ1mzMyR96LLmDq_362q5Fm-V-GTao14FUCDXzdm1_KWPuWcEd61kFniIIvEn1l9pnpsuH9PJ34pk9Jb02M6Xg0/s640/l2012070941307.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance,  Venu Rajamony, the Senior Country Officer, World Bank (India), Smt. Mandakini Kaul and the Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, Govt. of Bihar,  Rameshwar Singh signed the US$ 100 Million loan agreement for Rural Livelihoods Project in Bihar, in New Delhi on July 09, 2012.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- The Government of India, the Government of Bihar and the World Bank today signed here an agreement for US$ 100 million additional credit to scale-up the ongoing Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, named Jeevika (or `livelihood’ in Hindi). The Project is aimed at enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The additional financing will help consolidate and expand the Project to cover all the blocks in the existing six districts covered under the Project. This will not only allow the Project to cover all the villages in the existing districts, but also provide a comprehensive district wide model for poverty alleviation in Bihar, a predominantly rural state with 89 percent of the population living in rural areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The agreements for the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project were signed by . Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India;  Rameshwar Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, on behalf of the Government of Bihar;  Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), on behalf of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project; and Mandakini Kaul, Senior Country Officer, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Later Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India said that the additional financing will directly benefit 1.5 million households. It will further help the Jeevika Project consolidate and deepen some of the key activities initiated in the parent project so that the learning from these interventions can be internalized and scaled up across the state under the Government of India’s National Rural Livelihoods Mission, he added.  Rajamony further said that the additional financing for this Project will also help scale up activities by converging with various ongoing schemes and programs of the Government of India (GOI) and Government of Bihar (GOB) in the areas of health, nutrition, social protection, rural employment, and agriculture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">So far the Project has mobilized 515,000 poor women into 46,000 self-help groups (SHGs) and 3,500 village organizations. Of these, more than 90 percent belong to vulnerable groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes. These community organizations are managed by nearly 30,000 trained grassroots women leaders and 8,000 para-professionals, resource persons and functionaries trained in the areas of institutional capacity building, bookkeeping, providing linkage with commercial banks and livelihood support services.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India said that effective targeting of the poor, especially the most vulnerable groups, has been a major focus of the ongoing Project. He said that this additional financing will not only help expand the social mobilization strategy to newer blocks, but also deepen the social inclusion impact in the existing blocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Parmesh Shah, the Project’s Task Team Leader and Lead Rural Development Specialist, World Bank said that the additional financing will help the project develop scalable models in key livelihood sectors such as agriculture, dairying, job creation for migrant youth and nonfarm employment and also ensure access to safety nets for the poor through convergence with government programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The Project has initiated a number of interventions on a pilot basis through convergence with other government programs and enabled access to public entitlements for the poor. These include access to social security pensions for nearly 29,000 households in partnership with the social welfare department and access to wage employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in partnership with the rural development department for nearly 5000 SHG women.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The Project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – that provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The focus will now be on consolidating and increasing investments in different livelihoods sectors such as agriculture, dairying, job creation for migrant youth and nonfarm sector employment; investments will be made in cross-sectoral delivery of services through convergence with various GOI/GOB development programs; partnerships with civil society, social entrepreneurs and private sector will be strengthened for innovative practices in social, financial and economic inclusion; and the monitoring and evaluation systems will be strengthened to capture change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">These SHGs of the poor have so far cumulatively saved over US$ 5.5 million, and accessed US$ 22 million credit from commercial banks. A strong partnership has been built with mainstream financial institutions through signing of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with four commercial banks and three regional rural banks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">A recent independent evaluation of the impact of Jeevika on socio-economic outcomes based on a survey of 4,000 randomly selected households show that the Project has positively impacted the savings of project households with 58 percent more households starting regular savings. It has led to increased food security with a 27 percent reduction in the duration of food shortage and has increased ownership of assets like cows (by 59 percent) and bullocks (by 177 percent).</span></div></div>

India: Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Project

Government of India, Government of Bihar and World Bank Sign US$ 100 Million Agreement for Additional Financing for Rural Livelihoods Proje...

India Signs Three Loan Agreements with ADB Worth US $826 Million for Facilitating Power Transmission within India

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">The Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions) in the Department of Economic Affairs,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">Ministry of Finance, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Venu Rajamony, the Chairman and Managing Director,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">POWERGRID, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R.N. Nayak and the Principal Economist, India Resident Mission,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">Rana Hasan, signed the loan agreements between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">Government of India worth US $826 million for facilitating power transmission within<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: HI;">India, in New Delhi on March 30, 2012. Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">New Delhi (PIB) --- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India today signed three loan agreements worth $826 million aimed at shoring up power transmission systems to help India efficiently transfer electricity from surplus regions to power-deficit regions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A $500 million sovereign-guaranteed loan and a $250 million non-sovereign corporate loan will establish a 1,300-plus kilometer interregional transmission link to allow the bulk transfer of electricity from independent power producers in the western state of Chhattisgarh to areas of high demand in the north, including the National Capital Territory Region of Delhi. The third loan of $76 million (sovereign) will connect the western grid region to the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions) in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signed guarantee agreements on behalf of Government of India and R.N. Nayak, Chairman and Managing Director, POWERGRID signed the loan agreements.  Rana Hasan, Principal Economist, India Resident Mission, signed the guarantee and loan agreements on behalf of ADB.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking on the occasion,  Rajamony said that this is a pioneering initiative to club a non-sovereign loan of US$ 250 million with a sovereign loan of US$ 500 million in one financing package. The combined loan will significantly strengthen Power Grid’s corporate credit capabilities and access to future foreign commercial borrowings in the international capital market, he said. He added that this loan sets a benchmark for future commercial lending not only to Power Grid but all Central Public Sector Undertakings. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Rana Hasan from ADB stated that the Project will strengthen the national power grid through achieving enhanced transmission capacity and reliability of supply. At the same time, they will cater to the growing demands in the Western and Northern regions of India through facilitating electricity transfer from surplus regions to power-deficient regions, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The first two loans to the central transmission utility, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), are bundled together to help leverage interest from foreign commercial lenders and move POWERGRID from sovereign funding to more market-based capital raising. The non-sovereign loan of up to 15 years will be POWERGRID’s first large-scale foreign commercial term borrowing without government credit support. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The sovereign loans will have a 25-year term, including a five-year grace period with an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB`s LIBOR-based lending facility. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">POWERGRID plans to invest about $22 billion to more than double the size of its transmission network between now and 2017, thereby expanding its funding base from the present sources of domestic bonds and government-guaranteed loans to the new foreign commercial borrowing.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India Signs Three Loan Agreements with ADB Worth US $826 Million for Facilitating Power Transmission within India

The Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions) in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Venu Rajamony, the Chairman ...

India: World Bank to Provide $60 Million for Urban Local Bodies

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">NEW DELH (NNN-PTI): The World Bank will provide credit worth USD 60 million to the government for capacity building of urban local bodies in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">An agreement to this effect was signed here on Thursday between the multilateral agency and the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, an official release said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The credit will come from the International Development Association (IDA) -- the World Bank's concessionary lending arm. The maturity period will be for 25 years, including a five-year grace period.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The project aims to improve skills of urban local bodies (ULBs) for better urban management, thereby reducing poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This will help states and at least 20 ULBs in the initial phase to improve systems for financial management, urban planning, service delivery and better governance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Besides, it will provide support at the central and local levels for policy formulation, implementation and monitoring, in the area of urban poverty alleviation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This will be with special focus on building-up information systems, fostering knowledge, information exchange and learning to promote community participation in implementing urban poverty alleviation programmes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Through this project, the union government will set up a Challenge Fund which will recognise innovative practices by ULBs on urban poverty alleviation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It will also constitute a network of practitioners that will include government officials from select ULBs, academics and other actors active in the area of urban poverty alleviation both nationally and internationally. -NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: World Bank to Provide $60 Million for Urban Local Bodies

NEW DELH (NNN-PTI): The World Bank will provide credit worth USD 60 million to the government for capacity building of urban local bodies ...

World Bank Signs Loan Agreement with Government of India

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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 14pt;">World Bank Signs Loan Agreement worth US$ 975 Million with Government of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> and DFCCIL for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project- I<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5pi8bZ2O3EpnieS3DwtrYuq7zm1cMq_Ye23QcrdFUx9mbaoX3z0o4oBN9BYCCRvA4qm5ktVHn8W79nV53TRcfjY3yhg1cMcRxq6mhgzC-ggzLToyp06O_XKcogeuV-EnA6JuFooGgzM/s1600/WORLDBANKloansigning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5pi8bZ2O3EpnieS3DwtrYuq7zm1cMq_Ye23QcrdFUx9mbaoX3z0o4oBN9BYCCRvA4qm5ktVHn8W79nV53TRcfjY3yhg1cMcRxq6mhgzC-ggzLToyp06O_XKcogeuV-EnA6JuFooGgzM/s1600/WORLDBANKloansigning.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 7.0pt;">The Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Shri Venu Rajamony, the Country Director India, World Bank, Mr. Roberto Zagha and the Project Director, DFCCIL, Shri Anshuman Sharma signed a loan agreement for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project-I, in New Delhi on October 27, 2011. Photo:PIB<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The World Bank today signed a US$ 975 million loan agreement with the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL) to set-up the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor-I (a freight-only rail line) that will help faster and more efficient movement of raw materials and finished goods between the Northern and Eastern parts of India. The corridor will also allow Indian Railways to free up capacity and better-serve the large passenger market in this densely populated region.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">This is part of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s first Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) initiative – being built on two main routes – the Western and the Eastern Corridors. These corridors will help <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> make a quantum leap in increasing the railways’ transportation capacity by building high-capacity, higher-speed dedicated freight corridors along the “Golden Quadrilateral” – the four rail routes that connect <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Delhi</st1:place></st1:city>, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. Currently, these routes account for just 16 percent of the railway network’s length, but carry more than 50 percent of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s total rail freight. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“The Indian Railways urgently needs to add freight routes to meet the growing freight traffic in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which is projected to increase more than 7 percent annually. Dedicated freight corridors will not only meet this growing freight demand, but also decongest the already saturated rail network and promote the shifting of freight transport from road to more efficient rail transport,” said Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. “Augmenting its transport systems is a crucial element of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s trillion-dollar infrastructure agenda for the next Five-Year Plan (XIIth Plan) which starts in 2012. Since the 1990s, road transport has advanced more rapidly than the railways, and now accounts for about 65 percent of the freight market and 90 percent of the passenger market in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and those shares are growing. The project also has significant contribution in reducing GHGs and the Government of India is committed to increasing the share of rail transport in this mix, he added. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The agreements were signed by Mr Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, on behalf of the Government of India; Mr Anshuman Sharma, Project Director, on behalf of the DFCCIL; and Mr Roberto Zagha, Country Director for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> on behalf of the World Bank. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project (EDFC) will ease congestion choking the railway system and reduce travel-time for passenger trains on the arterial Ludhiana-Delhi-Mughal Sarai railway route. The corridor will add additional rail transport capacity, improve service quality and create higher freight capacity. It will also help to develop the institutional capacity of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCCIL) and Ministry of Railways to best utilize heavy haul freight systems. World Bank financing for the EDFC will cover a route length of 1,130 kilometers (out of a total corridor length of 1,839 kilometers) and will be provided in three phases. The Project signed today will finance the first phase, which is the 343 kilometer section that runs between Khurja and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kanpur</st1:place></st1:city>. The Project will help increase the capacity of these freight-only lines by raising the axle-load limit from 22.9 to 25 tons and enable speeds of up to 100 km/hr. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“Eastern & Western Dedicated Freight Corridors are ICONIC projects and will greatly upgrade rail transport capacity and help to increase the market share of railways”, said Mr R.K.Jain, Adviser (Infrastructure), Railway Board <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“Implementing the DFC program will provide India the opportunity to create one of the world’s largest freight operations, adopting proven international technologies and approaches which can progressively be extended to other important freight routes throughout the network,” said Roberto Zagha, World Bank’s Country Director in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In addition to the efficiency improvement and other operational benefits, the Project is expected to bring in significant reductions of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Unlike the existing rail network, which runs on a combination of diesel and electrical locomotives, the proposed DFC corridor will operate entirely through electric locomotives, thereby further reducing GHG emissions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">A Carbon Footprint Analysis conducted by DFCCIL for the Eastern DFC Project shows the corridor is expected to cause 2.25 times less carbon emissions when compared to a scenario where the freight is transported through a non-DFC network of the Indian Railways. It also shows that the Eastern corridor is expected to generate about 10.48 million tons of GHG emissions up to 2041-42, as against 23.29 millions of GHG emissions in the absence of EDFC – a 55 percent reduction of GHG emissions. EDFC will also bring about a 15 percent reduction in carbon intensity as compared to using existing alternate routes of transport. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“Studies show that DFC will enable the Indian Railways to reduce GHG emissions on these routes by over 64 percent - an actual reduction from 12.3 million tons of GHGs to 4.3 million tons of GHGs as a result of DFC,” said Ben L. J. Eijbergen, Lead Transport Specialist and Task Team Leader for the Project. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The loan, from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity period of 22 years including a 7-year grace period. ---PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

World Bank Signs Loan Agreement with Government of India

World Bank Signs Loan Agreement worth US$ 975 Million with Government of India and DFCCIL for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Proje...