NEW DELHI, SEPT 12: Export and Import Bank of India (Exim) will provide financial support to Indian firms for implementing Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects, a senior Exim Bank official said."Indian firms working on ADB-funded programmes would get assistance from Exim Bank on selective basis as some bank-funded projects have gaps in financing which are expected to be bridged through commercial credit," general manager of Exim Bank S R Rao said.Rao said such assistance to firms would be given with the understanding that the project would source some material and services from India and thus boost the country's exports.Bids for some ADB-funded projects require credit support from banks or financial institutions, Rao said adding "Exim Bank would offer financial facilities to support bids by Indian exporters since the bank gives weightage to credit facility clubbed with the prices quoted in the bids."India is one of the largest borrowers of ADB funds with credit aggregating US $ 7.253billion in 1998 but its participation in bank-funded projects is very much limited, an Exim Bank official said. According to ADB statistics, procurement for bank-funded projects excluding civil works from India stood at US $ 3.20 billion till June 1999. The procurement from Japan, the largest stakeholder in ADB from Asia and Indonesia stood at $ 6.17 billion and $ 5.81 billion respectively.Bank statistics indicated that in terms of procurement, India was among the top four since 1996 but did not figure among the nations topped for the bank-funded consultancy services projects.
