Countries and Regions

	Table of Contents
p. 18 of 20 BACK | NEXT I. Country Performance Assessment II. Country Operational Strategy III. Sector Strategies IV. Regional Cooperation V. Donor Activities and Aid Coordination VI. Cofinancing and Catalyzing External Resources VII. ADB’s Operational Program VIII. Economic and Sector Work Program IX. Local Cost Financing

Country Assistance Plans - India

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VII. ADB’s Operational Program

A. The Proposed Program

91. The loan and TA program for 1999 and the proposed program for the period 2000-2003, summarized in the table below, reflects ADB's prevailing operational strategy, reflects the ADB's overarching emphasis on poverty reduction, and is consistent with the Government's development objectives. In view of the disruption in the implementation of the operational program, particularly the slippage of infrastructure projects from 1999 to 2000 and its knock-on effects, the 2001-2003 Program is similar to the 2000-2002 Program. Notwithstanding, the overall scope of the program and the phasing of these projects are reflecting increasing importance of poverty interventions in the India lending pipeline.

92. A detailed breakdown of the program, including distribution by poverty classification, by crosscutting concerns, and by sector, is given in Appendixes 4 and 5. ADB's firm lending program over this period averages $1.2 billion per year, in line with the country's indicative planning figure. To mitigate the possible effect of unexpected delays in loan processing in view of the increasing emphasis of policy reform at national and subnational levels, as well as the large average size of projects in India, the program also includes annually stand-by projects. The TA program is expected to play a critical role in determining ADB's policy and capacity building agenda, facilitate the implementation of projects and programs at the national and state levels, and contribute to mobilizing funding agency support and cofinancing possibilities. For 2001-2002, the TA program comprises 28 projects (including 2 multi-year cluster TAs) for a total amount of $19.9 million in support of the project pipeline, to address capacity building issues including at the state level, and to strengthen the poverty focus of the India pipeline.

B. Strengthened Role of ADB's Resident Mission

93. The India Resident Mission (INRM), established in 1992, has played an increasingly important role in the effective implementation of ADB's lending and non-lending assistance to the country, and further strengthening of INRM is envisaged in line with ADB's Resident Mission Policy ¹². The number of loans delegated for administration and disbursement has increased from 11 in 1999 to 20 in 2000, with 5 more loans expected to be transferred during 2001. In addition, INRM is administering 17 of the 19 private sector loans. INRM is taking the lead in the annual Country Portfolio Performance Review, closely coordinating with the concerned departments at headquarters, and is undertaking semi-annual tripartite portfolio review meetings with the Government's Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and the executing agencies (see para. 26). These initiatives have enabled closer monitoring, and more expeditious follow-up including on-site inspection of executing agencies' project management and supervision, and have contributed to the substantial improvement in disbursement performance.

94. INRM has been actively involved in country programming, loan and TA processing, and associated policy dialogue and donor coordination. It is proposed that INRM will take on further responsibility and accountability in the future. This will inter alia include processing responsibility for the West Bengal Transport Development Project (proposed for 2001), as well as processing of TA including Capacity Building for Project Implementation and Institutional Strengthening of Controller of Aid Accounts and Audit. ADB's expansion of state-level operations is providing further opportunity for the Resident Mission to take on responsibility both in loan and TA processing as well as in administration and regular monitoring. These initiatives will be supported by enhanced economic analysis capacity of INRM, both for assessing the soundness of macroeconomic management at the national and state levels, but also-and of fundamental importance-the monitoring of social development as basis for strengthening the poverty impact of ADB assistance.

12. The increasing role of INRM is accompanied by greater staff resource availability. This has necessitated an expansion of office space through construction of a new INRM office building. Approved in April 1999, construction is expected to be completed by late-2001.

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