Japan has committed Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of an amount of JPY 30 billion (about ₹2,113 crore) to support India’s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The notes were exchanged today between CS Mohapatra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador, Embassy of Japan to India for Covid-19 Crisis Response Support Loan for Social Protection,” according to an official release.

Subsequent to the exchange of notes, the loan agreement for the programme loan was signed between Mohapatra and Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), New Delhi.

“Together with the new loan announced today, Japan’s Covid-related assistance to India amounts to more than ₹5,800 crore. Covid-19 has most affected the vulnerable people, including women, in India,” an official from the Embassy of Japan in India told BusinessLine . This new yen loan is provided, in addition to the previous support directly targeting the improvement of public health, to ensure much needed social protection to these people by assisting the government’s relevant policies, including Prime Minister Modi’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), he added.

This programme loan aims to support India’s efforts to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable across the country against the severe impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the release said.

“India and Japan have had a long history of bilateral development cooperation since 1958. In the last few years, the economic cooperation between India and Japan has grown into strategic partnership,” it said.

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