World Bank has approved US $1 billion for India

           The World Bank has approved US $1 billion for India as social security technology fund for country’s urban poor and migrant workers during the Corona-virus crisis. This takes the total commitment from the World Bank towards emergency Covid-19 response in India to US $2 billion. A US $1 billion support was announced last month to support India’s health sector. The focus will be to enable India to integrate all of its 400-plus social security schemes at a technology level, the bank said. 

“The project will be crucial to rebalance social security towards urban poor, as much as rural,” said Junaid Ahmad, country director, World Bank.

 Of the US $1 billion commitment, US $550 million will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) - the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm and US $200 million will be a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a final maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years. The remaining US $250 million will be made available after June 30, 2020.