World Bank approves USD 500 mn loan to support India's informal working class amid pandemic

New Delhi: World Bank on Wednesday said it has approved a USD 500 million (about Rs 3,717.28 crore) loan programme to support India's informal working class to overcome the current pandemic distress.

The loan will create greater flexibility for states to cope with the ongoing pandemic, future climate and disaster shocks, World Bank said in a statement.

Of the USD 500 million commitment, USD 112.50 million will be financed by its concessionary lending arm International Development Association and USD 387.50 million will be a loan from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

The loan has a maturity period of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years.

World Bank said its total funding towards



strengthening India's social protection programmes to help the poor and vulnerable households since the start of the pandemic stands at USD 1.65 billion (about Rs 12,264.54 crore).

The first two operations approved last year provided immediate emergency relief cash transfers to about 320 million individual bank accounts identified through pre-existing national social protection schemes and additional food rations for about 800 million (80 crore) individuals, World Bank said.

States can now access flexible funding from disaster response funds to design and implement appropriate social protection responses. The funds will be utilised in social protection programme for urban informal workers, gig-workers, and migrants, it said.