New Delhi: India will be providing financial assistance in form of grants and loans worth Rs 6251.65 cr to 10 countries in the region, budget documents have announced. The highest assistance goes to Bhutan on expected lines, with New Delhi announcing Rs 2884.65 cr to the country--2052.37 in form of grant and 832.28 cr in form of loan.
Second highest amount goes to Indian ocean Island country of Mauritius at Rs 1025 cr. Nepal gets Rs 800 cr, and budget estimates of FY2021-2022 see an increase to Rs 992 cr. Afghanistan, where India has a history of building mega projects like India Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat, Afghan Parliament gets Rs 400 cr.
Maldives and Myanmar get Rs 300 cr, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka get Rs 200 cr, Seychelles at Rs 140Cr and Mongolia Rs 2Cr. India has been involved in number of development and Infrastructure and capacity building projects in the region.
Focus increasingly has been on connectivity projects as well. The Chabahar project has been given Rs 100 cr, and the same amount has been estimated for Financial year 2021-22.
In Africa, New Delhi has kept aside Rs 350 cr, for Eurasian countries Rs 45 cr and for Latin America Rs 20 cr. Around half of Ministry of External Affairs budget goes in the assistance. The budget for MEA for Financial year 2020-21 stands at Rs 17346.71 cr.
