Press Trust of India / Manila/New Delhi Dec 04, 2009, 16:52 IST
The Asian Development Bank and the UK Department for International Development have entered into a new five-year strategic partnership to fight poverty in India.
The British government would provide a grant of 14 million pounds for the partnership.
In a statement today, ADB said the five-year partnership would run from 2009 to 2013 and would be supported by 14 million pounds funding from the UK government.
"The grant will co-finance specific components, such as poverty reduction and capacity building, in ADB-assisted projects in India's poorest states," the bank said.
ADB's head for office of co-financing operations Tadashi Kondo said that the partnership between ADB and DFID since 2001 has significantly helped the government of India maximise the impact of ADB loans on poverty reduction.
DFID has provided $50.58 million in grant co-financing since the collaboration began in 2001.
DFID India's head Michael Anderson said the partnership would directly benefit the poor by building roads, improving irrigation and developing cities in the poorest Indian states.
"Every $1 million contribution from DFID supports infrastructure investments of $300 million that directly benefits the poor. The new partnership offers opportunity to maximise the impact of ADB lending operations," Kondo added.
The statement said that DFID is providing 825 million pounds to India between 2008-2011. Out of the total amount, 500 million pounds would be for health and education.
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