India Signs Loan Agreements with World bank for IDA Assistance of US $ 100 Million for Accelerating Universal Access to Early and Effective Tuberculosis Care

Credit Agreement for World Bank (IDA) assistance of US$ 100 million for Accelerating Universal Access to Early and Effective Tuberculosis Care has been signed between the Government of India and the World Bank here today. This Agreement was signed by Shri Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Michael Haney, World Bank’s Operation’s Advisor in India, on behalf of the World Bank. 

Tuberculosis remains one of the top four causes of death among the most productive age groups with huge economic costs, particularly for poor households. This project is the third in a series of projects supporting the Government of India’s Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP). It will support implementation of India’s National Strategic Plan for TB Control during 2014-15 and 2015-16 by contributing annually to the care of 3.1 million TB patients, better treatment for 40,000 MDR-TB patients and 90,000 pediatric TB cases. 

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the implementing agency for the project.

Arun Jaitley takes over as Defence Minister

Shri Arun Jaitley took over as Defence Minister here today. On his arrival at the Ministry of Defence in South Block, Shri Jaitley was received by Defence Secretary Shri RK Mathur and other senior officials. After taking over as the Defence Minister, Shri Jaitley informally interacted with the media and outlined the priority areas of the government. He said “Security of India is a matter of prime importance and predominantly the external security of India is the responsibility of this Ministry”. For this he stated that “preparedness and support to our Armed Forces and speeding up all equipment required for their support are going to be the priority areas as far as our government is concerned”. He also remarked that over the last few years some of the areas in the Ministry had slowed down and therefore, expediting them will be a matter of top priority. 

Replying to a question of enhancing the FDI limit beyond the existing 26 percent, he said, this is an issue which will be dealt with by his two Ministries and added that it has already come up in his preliminary discussions in the Finance Ministry, today. 

Later, the Defence Minister took stock of various developments in the Ministry by interacting with the Defence Secretary Shri RK Mathur, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri GC Pati, Secretary Ex-Servicemen Welfare Smt Sangita Gairola and Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Shri Avinash Chander. This was followed by the three Service Chiefs calling on the Defence Minister in his chamber. Shri Jaitley also took a meeting of senior officials of the Ministry, where he discussed the working of the Ministry and other important issues. 

IREDA and AFD Sign Euro 100 million Agreement

The Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) is extending a Line of Credit (LoC) of Euro 100 million to M/s Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) to be utilized for financing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency projects in India. The said Line of Credit is being extended for a tenure of 15 years and without any guarantee from Government of India. 

Agreement for availing the LoC of Euro 100 million from AFD, was signed by Shri K S Popli, Chairman and Managing Director, IREDA and Mrs Aude Flogny - Director of AFD’s Regional Office in New Delhi in the presence of Senior officials of MNRE & IREDA. 

Developing renewable energy sources helps address environmental concerns and also improves energy security and spurs regional economic development. The agreement signed today will help in supporting the Government of India’s focus on a low carbon growth strategy for power generation in India. 

IREDA is a dedicated financing institution for financing RE projects under the aegis of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It has till date disbursed more than Rs 14,550 crores for RE projects and has total loan portfolio of over Rs. 8200 crores. IREDA has been raising resources from various bilateral / multilateral agencies as also from domestic sources through both taxable and tax-free bonds for providing long term finance on competitive terms and conditions.