WEB DESK
As India has crossed the milestone of administering one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, it is leveraging its membership of multilateral financing institutions to boost the immunization rate of the country’s eligible population. Beijing-based multilateral development bank Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Asian Development (ADB) will co-finance a USD 2 billion loan for India to procure COVID-19 vaccines under ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX). AIIB’s Vice President Dr. D.J. Pandian said in Beijing that AIIB is considering providing USD 500 million and the Manila-based ADB is expected to finance USD 1.5 billion. The loan is under consideration from the AIIB board, he said, adding that India has applied for it three months ago. About 667 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be procured through the loan, according to project details mentioned on the Bank website. He said the vaccines will be purchased by the Government of India through a competitive process and the ADB will be administering the purchasing system and implementing it under ADB’s APVAX, or Asia-Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, mechanism. India already produces Covishield and Covaxin and has recently crossed an inoculation milestone of administering 100 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses to its citizens against the SARS CoV-2 virus.
Besides funding various infra projects in India, the AIIB has also granted USD 1.75 billion to India for the COVID-19 relief budget support. Pandian said the Beijing-based AIIB, in which India is the second-largest shareholder after China, has so far approved 147 projects amounting to USD 28.9 billion. India has emerged as its biggest beneficiary by obtaining USD 6.7 billion for 28 projects, he told the media in Beijing at its 2021 annual meeting held through video link. The meeting concluded on Friday. AIIB’s latest Asian Infrastructure Finance (AIF) report entitled “Sustaining Global Value Chains,” was also released which points to the need for greater international cooperation to ensure the supply chain infrastructure is greener, more digital and more resilient.
During the weeklong annual meeting events, the AIIB formally signed a USD 356.67 million loan agreement with Govt of India for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. This was approved last month. The signing ceremony was attended by Dr. D J Pandian, VP, AIIB; Manisha Sinha, JS, DEA & Pradeep Yadav, MD, Chennai Metro. Pandian said the AIIB is backing several other infrastructure projects for Chennai city and its suburbs. “The USD 400-million Chennai Metro Corridor-5 is already under pipeline at an advanced stage of project approval process. We are also working on a few other transport projects in Chennai, including the Chennai Outer Ring Road project worth USD 300 million,” Pandian said.
The energy and transport sectors have received the highest amount of financing from the AIIB, said Pandian who oversees all sovereign and non-sovereign lending for the AIIB in South Asia, the Pacific Islands and South-East Asia. He said that since its inception, the AIIB has so far approved 147 projects amounting to USD 28.9 billion. By 2025, the bank’s climate finance will be 50 per cent and from next year all projects to be approved will be Paris climate agreement aligned, he said.
Replying to a question on funding for China’s BRI, Pandian said “We are a multilateral bank. Our job is to do infrastructure development projects. The BRI is different, AIIB is different. To my knowledge, nothing has come up from BRI.” India has been strongly objecting to China over the BRI and its flagship CPEC project as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pandian said the bank has a strict policy related to financing projects in the disputed areas. Consent from all sides is required to fund such projects, he added. In Pakistan, he said, the AIIB has financed seven infrastructure projects amounting to USD 1.5 billion. AIIB began operations in Beijing in January 2016 and have since grown to 104 approved members worldwide. US and Japan, however, have not joined the bank.