India, ADB sign $400 mn loan pact

New Delhi: The central government on Monday signed a $400 million policy-based loan with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support its urban reform agenda to create high-quality urban infrastructure, improve service delivery, and promote efficient governance systems. The signatories to the loan agreement for sub-programme 2 of the Sustainable Urban Development and Service Delivery Programme were Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission. While Sub-programme 1 approved in 2021 with a financing of $350 million established national-level policies and guidelines to improve urban services, Sub-programme 2 supports investment planning and reform actions at the state and urban local body (ULB) levels, the finance ministry said in a statement.