• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with the Asian Development (ADB) are currently processing a $2 billion loan for India to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.

• Of the $2 billion loan, the ADB is expected to finance $1.5 billion and AIIB is considering providing $500 million.

• The loan is under consideration from the AIIB board. India has applied for it three months ago. About 667 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be procured through the loan.

• The vaccines will be purchased by the government through a competitive process and the ADB will be administering the purchasing system and implement it under ADB's APVAX, or Asia-Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, mechanism.

• India, which produces Covishield and Covaxin, has recently crossed an inoculation milestone of administering 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. India also plans to resume vaccine exports and provide the jabs to a number of countries.

• Besides funding various infra projects in India, the AIIB has also granted $1.75 billion to India for the COVID-19 relief budget support. 

Asian Development Bank

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) envisions a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty in the region. 

• From 31 members at its establishment in 1966, ADB has grown to encompass 68 members — of which 49 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.

• ADB assists its members, and partners, by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.

• ADB maximises the development impact of its assistance by facilitating policy dialogues, providing advisory services, and mobilising financial resources through cofinancing operations that tap official, commercial, and export credit sources.

History of ADB

• ADB was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world.

• A resolution passed at the first Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation held by the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East in 1963 set that vision on the way to becoming reality.

• Manila, capital of Philippines, was chosen to host the new institution, which opened on 19 December 1966, with 31 members that came together to serve a predominantly agricultural region. Takeshi Watanabe from Japan was ADB’s first president.

India and ADB

• India was a founding member of ADB in 1966 and is now the bank’s fourth-largest shareholder and top borrower. 

• ADB commenced operations in India in 1986 and has since committed 252 sovereign loans totaling $45.85 billion for India.

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