India, World Bank sign USD 100 million loan agreement to boost rural economy of Tamil Nadu

India and the World Bank on 30 January 2018 signed a USD 100 million loan agreement for Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project, aimed at boosting up the rural economy of Tamil Nadu.

The Agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Union Ministry of Finance; Praveen P Nair, Project Director, Tamil Nadu; and Junaid Ahmad, Country Director of World Bank India.

Highlights of the Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project
• The Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project will create an enabling environment for producer organizations and enterprises to promote businesses across select value chains.

• The project aims to promote rural enterprises, facilitate their access to finance and create employment opportunities for youth particularly women in selected blocks of Tamil Nadu across 26 districts, benefitting over 400000 people.

• The Project will be operational in 120 blocks across 3994 villages in 26 Districts of Tamil Nadu with 411620 direct beneficiaries.

• It will work with targeted households that are already part of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

• The project will be rolled out in a phased manner, 26 blocks will be taken up for implementation in all project districts in the first eight months, followed by 52 blocks by the end of 12 months, and the remaining 42 blocks by the end of 18 months.

•  Selected innovations and start-up ideas will also be tested or scaled up under the platform known as the Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Marketplace.

• An e-governance architecture with the use of ICT along with a robust Management Information System (MIS) will help in monitoring and tracking real time results.

• Under the project, communities will identify commodities and subsectors in the value chain for preparing business plans, based on the analysis.

• 30 per cent of the financing for these business plans will be through a matching grant program from the project and the remaining 70 per cent will be leveraged from other financial institutions.

• It will support eligible households from socially and culturally disadvantaged groups; harness their existing assets, skills, and resources; break their entry barriers to value-added economic activities; enhance their ability to access finance, markets and technology.

This USD 100 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), will have a 5 year grace period and a maturity of 19 years.