India's Aid and investment to foreign countries : News and Discussions

RISING SUN

RISING SUN

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Dec 3, 2017
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Development Partnership Administration
Over the past few years, India's development assistance has started to cover large number of countries and consequently, the projects being implemented by the Ministry of External Affairs have increased substantially. Recognizing this, the Development Administration Partnership (DPA) was created in the Ministry of External Affairs in January 2012 to effectively handle India’s aid projects through the stages of concept, launch, execution and completion.

India's development partnership is based on the needs identified by the partner countries and the effort of the Ministry is geared towards accommodating as many of the requests received from partner countries as is technically and financially possible. DPA has started to create in-house, specialized technical, legal and financial skills in order to fast-track all stages of project implementation. DPA has three Divisions. Currently, DPA I deals with project appraisal and lines of credit; DPA II deals with capacity building schemes, disaster relief, Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme and DPA III deals with project implementation.

As the Development Administration Partnership in the Ministry of External Affairs is gearing towards meeting its mandate, it is expected that effective and efficient handling of all our aid projects from the stages of concept, launch, execution and completion would result in efficient implementation of projects, in close cooperation and facilitation of the partner countries.

Development Partnership Administration has three Divisions (DPA – I, DPA – II and DPA – III) headed by Joint Secretary-level officers. DPA-I handles all Lines of Credit (LoC), grant projects in the East, South and West African regions, grant assistance projects in Bangladesh and the Sri Lanka Housing project. DPA-II handles over 8500 civilian and 1500 defence training slots allocated under ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme)/SCAAP (Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme)/TCS of Colombo Plan during 2012-13 to 161 partner countries. Forty seven empanelled institutions conduct around 280 courses annually. DPA-II also handles grant assistance projects in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and in Latin American countries. Humanitarian and disaster relief is also handled by this division. DPA – III deals with the implementation of grant assistance projects in Afghanistan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka

This page will be developed to include further details on DPA and its functioning.

For more information on Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme please visitlink.
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MEA | Development Partnership Administration
 
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Mongolia launches construction of first oil refinery with India aid
Mongolia launched construction of its first oil refinery on Friday, a long-awaited project that is funded by India and designed to end the country’s dependence on Russian fuel. Friday’s ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa and Indian home minister Rajnath Singh.

The oil refinery, in southern Dornogovi province will be capable of processing 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year, said Mongol Refinery, the state-owned company building the project, in a press release. That is about 30,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The refinery will be small by international standards, with most Chinese facilities each processing hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude per day, and India’s Reliance Industries running one refinery at a record 1.2 million bpd.

Still, Mongolia’s new refinery, planned for completion in late 2022, will meet all of the nation’s demand for gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

“By establishing this strategically important oil refinery, the national economy will become independent from energy imports, and fuel and commodity prices will be stabilised,” said Mongol Refinery in its statement. The project is expected to boost Mongolia’s gross domestic product by 10 percent, it said.

Mongolia imported almost 1.5 million tonnes of oil products last year, virtually all from Russia. They amounted to 18 percent of all Mongolia’s imports, according to official data.

Mongolia, a large landlocked country wedged between giants China and Russia, has a population of just 3 million. Almost half its people live as nomadic stock herders, and the country’s oil demand is growing only very slowly.

“From a national security perspective, we do need to diversify our sources of oil products from the current single source, Russia,” said Munkhdul Badral Bontoi, chief executive of Mongolia-based market intelligence group Cover Mongolia.

The cost of the refinery is estimated at $1.35 billion, and it will include a pipeline and its own power plant. The refinery will process Mongolia’s own crude oil, which is now sold to China.

Mongolia produced 7.6 million barrels of oil last year, about 21,000 bpd, amounting to 6% of its total export earnings. The country’s petroleum industry regulator is expecting its crude oil output to rise over the years prior to the refinery’s start-up.

Mongolia’s big southern neighbour China produces around 3.8 million bpd of crude, and imports more than 9 million bpd, according to official government data.

Is it viable?

A Mongolian oil refinery has been discussed since 1997, but while several projects were approved, none have been completed.

The refinery’s financing is part of a $1 billion credit line agreement between Mongolia and the Export-Import Bank of India, made during a 2015 visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The Indian guarantee is what put the odds in favour of the oil refinery being finally built, but the biggest worry here is whether the oil refinery can pay for itself,” said Munkhdul.

“Economically, I’m sceptical of the viability of a domestic oil refinery, as fuel prices are heavily regulated,” he said.
Mongolia launches construction of first oil refinery with India aid
 
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RISING SUN said:
DPA – III deals with the implementation of grant assistance projects in Afghanistan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka
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from Wiki:
The 1997 Constitution of the Maldives designates Islam as the official state religion. The Government interprets this provision to impose a requirement that all citizens must be Muslims, and as such Freedom of religion in the Maldives is formally non-existent.
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why does a democracy with equal status to all religions like India, gants aid to country like Maldives?
 
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Bharath said:
from Wiki:


why does a democracy with equal status to all religions like India, gants aid to country like Maldives?
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There are multiple reasons, however most important is the importance of the assisted country.
 
Tight-fisted neighbour? Indian aid to SAARC nations falls

India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years, a reply by the government in Parliament this week showed.

The startling figures were revealed in the Lok Sabha in answer to a question whether India had completed projects committed to countries in the neighbourhood. Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh submitted a chart of India’s grant assistance (GA), or projects financed through a grant, to neighbouring countries. According to the figures, the GA actually fell from ₹5,928.6 crore for 2013-14 to ₹3,483.6 crore for 2017-18 for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka combined.

Significantly, the drop for most SAARC countries was most steep in 2014, the year the NDA government launched its tenure with the “Neighbourhood First” slogan. The one exception was the Maldives, to which Indian assistance has been consistently increasing year on year since 2013, despite the dip in bilateral ties. The Maldives is the only country of the grouping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet visited, and despite rising tensions between New Delhi and Male over the conduct of elections this year and the crackdown on the Opposition parties by President Abdulla Yameen, Indian largesse appears to have increased ten-fold to the islands: from ₹9.67 crore in 2013-14 to ₹109.24 crore.



SAARC-funding



When contacted, the External Affairs Ministry declined to make any formal comment. In its reply in Parliament, the Ministry had said: “An assessment of fund requirement is made before each financial year, based on the progress in execution aligned with project implementation cycle. Time lines fixed for projects vary, and are determined based on consultations with host governments and ground situation.”

However, officials gave a number of explanations for the downtrend. “Our commitment to the neighbourhood has never been as strong,” said an Indian diplomat now serving in the region, explaining that the GA figures did not include the lines of credit extended to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These lines of credit are given at the minimal interest rates of 1-2%, the official explained, compared with loans offered by China at 6-7%.

Another South Block official strongly denied the contention that the declining figures showed a flagging interest in the government’s neighbourhood policy. The official said financial assistance had a “cyclical” nature, and the GA figures for 2018-19 were expected to be higher for each of the countries involved. The GA for Nepal in 2017-18 was ₹303.26 crore, for instance, and was expected to rise this year to ₹650 crore, provided the government in Kathmandu was able to absorb the additional aid, he added.

“These [trends] are mainly related to project cycles,” concurred the former Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha, who was also Secretary (Economic Relations) before he retired. “Both our major projects — the Salma dam and the Afghanistan Parliament — were done and handed over [in this period]. So there is a natural tapering until we undertake the next major project.”

When asked, officials conceded that one of the major reasons for the decline was that many projects had been completed in the neighbourhood, and there were fewer projects started in the period since 2014.

In Afghanistan, India has shifted to work on small development projects (SDPs) rather than the ambitious highways, dams and big building projects that were started in 2008-09. In Bangladesh, the main grant for land acquisition for the Akhaura-Agartala rail “last link” project has now been completed. In Bhutan, which has always received the largest share of Indian assistance, the assistance required for major hydroelectric power plants like Punatsanghchu 1 and 2 and Mangdechu has been disbursed 75-90%, said officials, while Indian assistance to Bhutan’s 11th five-year plan (2013-2017) has been handed over nearly fully. In Sri Lanka, the decline was explained by delays in land acquisition for 15,000 homes to be built by India in the plantation areas, though the work on 45,000 homes in the north and east of the island has been completed.

India is still completing three main projects in Maldives: a police academy, a coastal radar project, and the refit of MNDF ship Huravee. An offer to build a new Defence Ministry building is pending, which explains why the Maldives alone is the outlier to an otherwise declining trend in neighbourhood aid.
 
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advaidhya said:
Influence is always based on religion and loyalty. For example, difference between nepal and Bangladesh
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As it stands today, India is giving $10+ billion as direct investment and grant to Bangladesh and only a fraction to Nepal.

Indian Govt has more influence on afghan administration than Islamic pakistan.

Religion and cultural ties can be used as a starting point of a relation. After that FP is based on hard currency and trade economic .
 
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Ashwin said:
As it stands today, India is giving $10+ billion as direct investment and grant to Bangladesh and only a fraction to Nepal.

Indian Govt has more influence on afghan administration than Islamic pakistan.

Religion and cultural ties can be used as a starting point of a relation. After that FP is based on hard currency and trade economic .
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India gives grants to Nepal. India is giving Indian manufactured items to Bangladesh in the form of loans. So, India is not suffering from any forex losses but only gaining money. In case of Nepal, India is providing direct money, allowing people to move freely etc. Bangladesh has blocked Indian goods movement.

In Afghanistan, India is getting bases in return for aid. Moreover, Afghanistan is not Islamic government. Afghanistan government is dictated by USA. It is not correct to say that Indian relationship with Afghanistan is good. If USA withdraws troops, Taliban will be elected with massive majority and henceforth all relationship wiyh India will cease.

Foreign policy is mainly dependent upon security over long term. Trade is secondary.
 
advaidhya said:
India gives grants to Nepal. India is giving Indian manufactured items to Bangladesh in the form of loans. So, India is not suffering from any forex losses but only gaining money. In case of Nepal, India is providing direct money, allowing people to move freely etc. Bangladesh has blocked Indian goods movement.

In Afghanistan, India is getting bases in return for aid. Moreover, Afghanistan is not Islamic government. Afghanistan government is dictated by USA. It is not correct to say that Indian relationship with Afghanistan is good. If USA withdraws troops, Taliban will be elected with massive majority and henceforth all relationship wiyh India will cease.
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I already showed 'how Influence is not always based on religion and loyalty'. Infact money and military might always trump it all.

advaidhya said:
Foreign policy is mainly dependent upon security over long term. Trade is secondary.
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China - Taiwan, China - Japan, Russia - EU. Ring a bell?
 
Ashwin said:
I already showed 'how Influence is not always based on religion and loyalty'. Infact money and military might always trump it all.


China - Taiwan, China - Japan, Russia - EU. Ring a bell?
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China and Taiwan follow one china policy. People are nit hostile to each other.

China & Japan don't have favourable foreign policy. They are pretty much hostile. They trade on mutual interest but don't speak good things.

Russia-EU policy is based on energy security. Russia exports more energy fuels than Saudi Arabia. EU will collapse and security will be jeopardised if Russia-EU relationship is not maintained.

Influence is based on security almost always. Security is generally dependent on religion, natural resources and technology. Religion is the default parameter when other two are absent.
 
India appeals for contributions to UN agency for Palestinian refugees
Amid a financial crunch at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, India has appealed to nations to enhance contributions to the agency, saying this support will be a practical way of expressing continued solidarity with Palestine refugees.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was established by the UN General Assembly seven decades ago, looks after the welfare of 5.4 million Palestine refugees.

"However, almost all of the UNRWA's resources come from voluntarily contributions, with a limited donor base. This arrangement is fraught with uncertainties," First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Mahesh Kumar said here on Monday.

Kumar, speaking at the UN General Assembly Fourth Committee meeting on the UNRWA, said even core services to the Palestinian refugees, notably in the fields of education, health, and assistance to the most vulnerable refugees are susceptible to interruption. He said provision of adequate, sustainable and predictable funding would have to be made and additional resource allocation from the regular budget could be considered.

He noted that the UN Board of Auditors in their latest report pointed out that as a result of suspended contributions amounting to 400 million dollars in respect of the years 2017 and 2018, the agency's projected overall deficit is around 450 million dollars. "This is unsustainable and a cause of concern," he said.

"We appeal to other traditional donors of the UNRWA to consider enhancing their contributions and non donor member states to consider contributing to the UNRWA. This is perhaps the practical way of expressing continued solidarity with Palestine refugees," Kumar said.

The Trump administration had in August said that the US will not make additional contributions to the UNRWA.
Kumar said against the backdrop of the serious resource constraints faced by the UNRWA, India increased its annual financial contribution five-fold to the agency's core budget, from one million dollars in 2016 to five million dollars in 2018. India is also committed to contribute five million dollars in 2019.

As part of its ongoing assistance programmes in Palestine to strengthen capacity-building efforts focused on institutions, services and training personnel, India provides 150 places for Palestinian professionals every year in its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme.

During the last five years, under an India-Palestine development partnership, 17 agreements have been signed in the fields of agriculture, health care, information technology, youth affairs, consular affairs, women's empowerment and media.

Under those agreements, around 70 million dollars of financial support and project assistance has been offered for projects like post-2014 war reconstruction efforts in Gaza; the construction of five schools; the India-Palestine Centre of Excellence for Informational and Communication Technologies at the Al-Quds University, with a satellite centre in Ramallah.

The India-Palestine Techno-park in Ramallah; a 100-bed super specialty hospital in Bethlehem; an India Studies Chair at the Al-Quds University; the construction of the Palestine Institute of Diplomacy in Ramallah; a National Printing Press; and establishing a Heritage Centre for the Empowerment of Women and Young People.
India appeals for contributions to UN agency for Palestinian refugees
 
India extends $5 mn aid to Myanmar for border development projects

India has extended a USD 5 million aid to Myanmar as its assistance for development projects on the Indo-Myanmar border. India's Ambassador to Myanmar, Vikram Misri handed over a cheque of USD 5 million to Myanmar's Minister for Border Affairs, Lt General Ye Aung at a ceremony on Monday.

Under the 2012 Border Region Development agreement, Indian government is extending USD 5 million micro development assistance every year for five years for projects on India-Myanmar border.

"Friendship Project|Amb @VikramMisri handed over US$ 4.95 Million Ceremonial Cheque to Union Minister for Border Affairs, Lt. General Ye Aung as India's assistance to Myanmar's Border Area Development Project," Misri tweeted.

India and Myanmar signed a Memorandum of Understanding for border development in May 2012, under which India is to provide a total of USD 25 million to Myanmar, divided into five tranches of USD 5 million each.

Under the first year project plan, 21 schools, 17 health centres and eight bridges are being built in Chin State and Naga Self Administered Zone of Myanmar through the Myanmar's Border Affairs ministry, according the information available on the website of the Indian Embassy in Myanmar.

The Myanmar government is in the process of selecting contractors to execute the second year projects under which five road projects each would be completed in Chin and Naga Self-Administered Zone, it said.

Three schools would be also set in Chin state and eight in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, it added.

Myanmar shares around 1600 km border with four Northeastern Indian states?Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
 
India provides financial assistance to construct three schools in Nepal
India has provided financial assistance for the construction of three schools in Kaski district of western Nepal.

One secondary school and two multiple campuses have been constructed in Kaski with the grant assistance from the Indian government, according to a statement issued by the Indian Embassy here.

Minister for Culture and Tourism Rabindra Adhikari inaugurated Saraswati Tika Higher Secondary School at Lekhnath Municipality, built with the Indian assistance of Rs 37.

Likewise, the construction of Laxmi Adarsha Multiple Campus in Lekhnath and Gupteshwor Mahadev Multiple Campus in Pokhara have also been completed under the grant assistance by India.

Both the campuses were inaugurated by the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India, Ajay Kumar.

Laxmi Adarsha Multiple Campus has been built with Indian assistance of Rs 48.40 million while Gupteshwor Mahadev Multiple Campus has been constructed with a grant assistance of Rs 41.10 million.

The newly-built infrastructures includes conference hall, computer lab, library etc.
India provides financial assistance to construct three schools in Nepal
 
India extends $5 mn aid to Myanmar for border development projects
India has extended a USD 5 million aid to Myanmar as its assistance for development projects on the Indo-Myanmar border. India's Ambassador to Myanmar, Vikram Misri handed over a cheque of USD 5 million to Myanmar's Minister for Border Affairs, Lt General Ye Aung at a ceremony on Monday.

Under the 2012 Border Region Development agreement, Indian government is extending USD 5 million micro development assistance every year for five years for projects on India-Myanmar border.

"Friendship Project|Amb @VikramMisri handed over US$ 4.95 Million Ceremonial Cheque to Union Minister for Border Affairs, Lt. General Ye Aung as India's assistance to Myanmar's Border Area Development Project," Misri tweeted.

India and Myanmar signed a Memorandum of Understanding for border development in May 2012, under which India is to provide a total of USD 25 million to Myanmar, divided into five tranches of USD 5 million each.

Under the first year project plan, 21 schools, 17 health centres and eight bridges are being built in Chin State and Naga Self Administered Zone of Myanmar through the Myanmar's Border Affairs ministry, according the information available on the website of the Indian Embassy in Myanmar.

The Myanmar government is in the process of selecting contractors to execute the second year projects under which five road projects each would be completed in Chin and Naga Self-Administered Zone, it said.

Three schools would be also set in Chin state and eight in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, it added.

Myanmar shares around 1600 km border with four Northeastern Indian states?Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
India extends $5 mn aid to Myanmar for border development projects
 
To counter Chinese clout, India to gift 6 HAL Kiran jet trainers to Myanmar
In what is being seen as an effort to counter China's growing influence in Myanmar, India has decided to ship 6 Kiran Jet trainers to Myanmar. Top government sources confirm the decision has already been taken.

India and Myanmar have close military ties and there have been times when the Myanmar Army has helped India with insurgents deep inside their territory. According to media reports, an IAF team will also be stationed in Myanmar for 2 years to service the planes and to help the Myanmar pilots with training.

Earlier, India had gifted used Mi25 helicopters to Afghanistan.

India, however, finds it impossible to counter China’s soft power approach in Southeast Asia. So far Beijing has provided development grants to Naypyidaw for education, economy, technology, and communication infrastructure.

China is currently in talks with Myanmar to develop a strategic deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu, western Rakhine state.

Kiran is a two-seat intermediate jet trainer developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and has been used by the Indian Air Force for intermediate level training of pilots.

Myanmar features prominently in PM Narendra Modi’s Act East Policy and New Delhi is keen on accelerating the ongoing infrastructural projects in Myanmar to boost bilateral ties between both the countries. India is also planning to cooperate in areas such as security, economy and culture.

India has already started the construction of the 109-km road project as part of the USD 484-million Kaladan Multimodal project and it is expected to be operational only by 2019-2020.
To counter Chinese clout, India to gift 6 HAL Kiran jet trainers to Myanmar | India News
 
India likely to commission major hydropower project in Bhutan this month: Vijay Gokhale
India is likely to commission a major hydropower project in Bhutan this month, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has said, vowing to strengthen bilateral collaboration in the energy sector.

In his address on 'India-Bhutan Relations: The Road Ahead' here, Gokhale said India is committed to harnessing the true potential for growth of cooperative ties with Bhutan, and exploring newer avenues for advancing it further.

"The Road ahead for India-Bhutan ties is one of tremendous potential and opportunities," he said at the end of the conference organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs and the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies, Bhutan, on Tuesday.

Over the years, the Indo-Bhutan mutually beneficial cooperation has been anchored in the remarkable cooperation in the energy sector, he said.

"This year, we hope to commission the flagship 720 MW Mangdechhu hydro-power project, hopefully this month itself. We are working together on a number of ongoing and planned projects, which promise to ensure that our relationship in this sector continue in the future," Gokhale said.

Noting that enhancing connectivity is a central pillar of 'Neighbourhood First' and 'Act East' policies, he said India's focus on boosting connectivity has contributed in expanding trade and economic opportunities and forging knowledge partnerships with Bhutan.

"As we look into the future, we see a positive trajectory for India-Bhutan relations, with expanded engagement in pursuit of common prosperity and happiness for our two peoples," he said.
India likely to commission major hydropower project in Bhutan this month: Vijay Gokhale
 
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will give financial assistance of $1.4 billion to the Maldives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, the biggest aid yet to the Indian Ocean island nation that is grappling with debt from a Chinese building spree.

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Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Modi made the announcement after talks with Maldives’ new president, Mohamed Ibrahim Solih, who defeated the pro-China strongman Abdulla Yameen in a surprise election result in October and is trying to reset ties with India.

During a five-year construction boom in the Maldives, China built a sea bridge connecting the capital, Male, to the main airport and is developing the airport itself, as well as building housing on land reclaimed from the sea.

But the fast-paced building activity has stoked fears that the Maldives has loaded up on debt that could be anything from $1.5 billion to more than $3 billion.

Solih’s administration has said it is trying to find out just how much the country of 400,000 people owes China.

Modi said India stood ready to help the Maldives as a close friend and neighbour.

“For Maldives’ social and economic development we are providing a financial assistance of $1.4 billion in the form of budgetary support, currency swap agreements and concessional lines of credit,” he said during a brief media appearance with Solih.

Both India and China have been trying to build regional influence in the Maldives and other Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka that lie along vital shipping lanes.

Soon after he took over last month, Solih said state coffers had been looted over the past few years and warned that the country was in financial difficulty after racking up debt with Chinese lenders.

Solih said the Maldives and India had signed agreements to cooperate on trade, health and defence. India would help improve Maldives’ security through joint patrols as well as aerial surveillance, officials said.

India’s big worry has been that China’s expansive diplomacy in the region was aimed at securing an outpost on an island in the Maldives.

Modi said he had discussed regional security with Solih and both had agreed not to allow each other’s territory to be used against the other.

Modi gives $1.4 billion aid to Maldives amid worry over its China debt | Reuters
 
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