The Indian government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed three loan agreements worth more than USD800 million and a USD1 million grant to fund four projects in the country.
The loans are funding three projects: the Maharashtra Power Distribution Enhancement Programme for agricultural solar (USD500 million); the Indore Metro Rail project (USD190.6 million); and Gujarat Skills Development Programme (USD109.97 million). The technical assistance grant of USD1 million will support the upcoming Sustainable Wetland and Integrated Fisheries Transformation project in Assam.
For Maharashtra, the loan aims to improve rural power infrastructure through the integration of renewable energy, providing daytime solar electricity for irrigation to farmers, upgrading substations, installing transformers, building high- and low-tension lines, and deploying 500MWh of battery storage.
The Indore loan is for construction of 8.62km of an underground metro line connecting people in busy areas to the airport via seven stations that will be integrated with existing bus services.
For Gujarat’s Skills Development Programme, the loan will fund training for the state’s workforce with industry skills and enhance the job-readiness of candidates. It will cover the logistics, automotive, manufacturing, IT, renewable energy, healthcare and agri-tech sectors. Courses will be designed in collaboration with these sectors to ensure success.
The technical assistance grant and loan agreements for development projects were signed by Saurabh Singh, deputy secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, and Mio Oka, country director, India Resident Mission at the ADB.
