mitment to India for financial year
2017/18 was `25,000 crore, of which
`16,000 crore was disbursed. The
government of Japan is also partner-
ing with India to finance and support
Indian projects in friendly countries.
Such collaborations are visible in de-
velopment of LNG (liquefied natural
gas) infrastructure in Sri Lanka,
housing, education and electrifica-
tion projects in Myanmar, road proj-
ects in Bangladesh and development
projects in Africa.
The focus of Japan’s official de-
velopment assistance, though, is In-
dia. In terms of sectors,
it is transport. Between
2008/09 and 2017/18,
64 per cent of Japanese
ODA went to transport
projects, with Metro
rail (33 per cent) and
dedicated freight corri-
dor (14 per cent) corner-
ing most funds.Metro Projects, DFCI
The most shining exam-
ple of India-Japan col-
laboration is the Delhi Metro project.
In the last 20 years, the Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation has built a massive
network of about 373 km with 271 sta-
tions in Delhi and neighbouring terri-
tories. DMRC has made it clear that
“timely availability of funds was a key
factor for the successful implemen-
tation of the project”. Of the `10,571
crore, the total cost for Phase 1, about
60 per cent was financed by the gov-
ernment of Japan. For the second
phase, JICA loans accounted for 54.47
per cent of the project cost of `18,783
crore. Of the estimated expenditure of
`41,079 crore for Phase III, which is
almost complete, JICA contribution is
known to be 48.57 per cent.
Similarly, JICA’s debt funding for
Dedicated Freight Corporation of In-2017/18), India is JICA’s largest devel-
opment partner in the world. “India
was the biggest recipient of Japanese
ODA last year (2018). We have provid-
ed 420 billion Japanese yen (`26,400
crore) and have been increasing our
support to the metro and other in-
frastructure projects. We have more
Japanese technologies coming here,
more companies coming here,” says
Kenji Hiramatsu, the Ambassador of
Japan to India.
Japan has been extending ODA
in the form of loans, grant-in-aid
and technical assistance since 1958.
Under the existing terms
and conditions, the loan
carries an annual interest
rate of 1.5 per cent, with
a repayment period of 30
years (including a 10-year
grace period). In certain
areas, such as consultancy
services, the interest rate
is even lower at 0.1 per
cent, and repayment pe-
riod 40 years, including a
12-year grace period.
JICA’s support is not
only well-spread geographically but
cuts across different areas and sec-
tors such as transport, power, ir-
rigation, environment and invest-
ment promotion. Taking note of the
Japanese assistance in development
projects in India, Union Budget
2019/20, presented by Finance Min-
ister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5,
highlighted some major ongoing JI-
CA-funded projects. These included
the Delhi Mass Rapid Transport Sys-
tem, the Dedicated Freight Corridor,
the Kolkata East-West Metro, the
Chennai Metro, the Bengaluru Wa-
ter Supply & Sewerage project, the
Bengaluru Metro Rail project, the
Ahmedabad Metro project and the
Tamil Nadu Transmission System
Improvement project. JICA’s com-
August 11I 2019 I BUSINESS TODAYI 99LAKH CRORE
ACCUMULATED
SOFT LOAN
COMMITMENT
BY 2017/18` 3