• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved two loans, including funding for the construction of an 82-km Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, of $250 million each.

• Earlier, ADB approved a $1,049 million Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF) for the project in 2020 to support the construction of RRTS, the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021, to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states. The RRTS will have multi-modal hubs to ensure smooth interchange with other transport modes.

• The other loan of $250 million is to develop industrial corridors in India to increase the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, strengthen national supply chains and links with regional and global value chains, and create more and better jobs.

• The government of India launched the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) in 2016 and updated it in 2020 to strengthen the planning and management of designated industrial economic clusters to attract private infrastructure and manufacturing investments. The ADB’s programme supports the effective implementation of the NICDP.

• An industrial corridor involves the creation of an efficient multimodal transport network within a defined geography supported by quality infrastructure, logistics, skill development, a policy framework that facilitates doing business and setting up distribution networks that link production centers, urban centers, and international gateways like ports and airports. 

• The loan supports sub-programme 2 of the Industrial Corridor Development Program which will help develop multimodal logistics infrastructure in industrial corridors under the government’s Prime Minister Gati Shakti platform. 

• In addition, the second sub-programme will help industrial corridors develop alternative financing solutions, such as green finance, for industrial cluster development. It will also improve industrial workplace safety and integrate environment and climate change practices in these areas.

• To help improve the investment climate, and in line with the ease of doing business, the programme will introduce a synchronised central and state-level single window clearance system and digitise processes to streamline the logistics process. 

• This loan builds on the $250 million sub-programme 1 loan approved by ADB in October 2021 that helped strengthen policy frameworks for the NICDP and develop 11 industrial corridors.

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.

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

ADB and India

• India was a founding member of ADB in 1966 and fourth largest shareholder.

• ADB started operations in India in 1986.

• As on December 31, 2022, it had committed $52.28 billion in sovereign lending in the country and $6.75 billion in non-sovereign lending and investment.

• ADB’s current India portfolio comprises 64 projects worth about $16 billion across the transport, urban, energy, human development, agriculture and natural resources, and finance sectors.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store