The Asian Development Bank has unveiled a new country partnership plan for India, with the goal of expanding the bank's participation and supporting India's aspiration for robust, climate-resilient, and equitable growth
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today announced the beginning of a new country partnership strategy (CPS) for India, with the goal of increasing the bank's engagement with the country and supporting India's ambition for robust, climate-resilient, and equitable growth.
ADB operations in India will focus on accelerating structural change and job creation, fostering climate-resilient growth, and deepening social and economic inclusion between 2023 and 2027.
India is an important ADB partner. ADB had committed $52.6 billion in 605 public sector loans, grants, and technical assistance in India as of the end of December 2022, as well as $8 billion in private sector projects.
India successfully recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with economic growth anticipated at 6.4% in FY 2023-2024, and is currently one of the world's fastest growing major economies. The country must accelerate and sustain inclusive growth by addressing crucial infrastructure and human development concerns, socioeconomic and regional inequities, and susceptibility to climate change and natural disasters.
ADB will contribute to India's national flagship programmes on expanding industrial corridors, multimodal logistics networks, urban infrastructure, the skill ecosystem, and small enterprises to assist structural transformation and the creation of well-paying jobs. This will allow cities to realise their full potential as growth engines, boost industrial competitiveness, and create more jobs in the formal manufacturing and service sectors.
“Building on our comprehensive consultations with government counterparts, the private sector, and other in-country stakeholders, the new CPS aims to help India achieve a higher growth trajectory. ADB will simultaneously increase support for better education, health, and social protection, and will assist improvements in urban livability and rural development while ensuring gender empowerment and environmental sustainability,” said ADB Country Director for India Takeo Konishi. “Support to India’s climate agenda will be at the forefront of the new strategy via interventions in energy transition, transport decarbonization, climate adaptation, and disaster risk management.”
ADB will achieve these goals through its operations in the public and private sectors, as well as by catalysing public-private partnerships. ADB will also boost domestic resource mobilisation, notably at the municipal level, gender equality and social inclusion, digitization and the expansion of the innovation ecosystem, and regional collaboration to supplement these interventions.
ADB will use diverse tactics based on the states' development positions.
“Strategic partnerships have been formed with lower-income states to develop critical infrastructure, basic services, institutional capacity, and private sector, while ADB interventions for the developed states will focus on transformational projects, nonsovereign operations, knowledge, and policy advice,” said ADB Principal Country Specialist Rajesh Vasudevan.
The new CPS will also maximise value addition in strategic engagement by providing knowledge solutions, technical help, and capacity building to its partner agencies.