Thursday, September 24, 2009 WASHINGTON: The World Bank today approved four loans worth $4.3 billion to help India finance its infrastructure programmes and further strengthen the capital base of state-run banks. The approved loan includes a budgetary support of $2 billion for capital infusion in select public sector banks to help them maintain credit growth.The approval also includes a $1.2-billion lending for the government-run India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) that will provide long-term funds to public-private partnership (PPP) projects in road, port and power sector.The Indian government has estimated that public sector banks will require at least $4.8 billion during 2009-11 to maintain credit growth over the medium term. For the infrastructure sector, the Indian Planning Commission has estimated that an investment of $500 billion is required during the Eleventh five-year plan (2007-12).The World Bank loan also includes $1 billion loan for Power Grid and $150 million for improving water supply and sanitation project in 2,600 villages of Andhra Pradesh.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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