JICA extends ODA loan of Rs 2,069 cr for social protection amid Covid-19

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with the Indian government to provide an official development assistance loan of 30,000 million Japanese yen (about Rs 2,069 crore) for Covid-19 crisis response support for social protection.

The objective of project is to contain Covid-19 and mitigate adverse socio-economic impacts in India by extending budget support to government implementing emergency response programmes and policy reforms for social protection as counter-measures.

The ODA loan agreement was signed recently between C S Mohapatra, Additional Secretary at the Department of Economic Affairs under, Ministry of Finance, and Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative of JICA India.

Matsumoto said JICA aims to support India in its response to Covid-19 pandemic by accelerating economic support to the government. The project aims at supporting the government in its endeavour of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to empower these disadvantaged groups whose lives have been hampered with the occurrence of the pandemic.

Besides this project, JICA has extended an official development assistance loan of Covid-19 crisis response emergency support for strengthening public healthcare system under the Prime Minister's Atmrbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PM-ASBY).

The loan aligns with loans provided by other multilateral and bilateral donor agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW). The Department of Economic Affairs is executing agency for the project.

( With inputs from ANI )