India signed a $ 850 million loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today to help boost its infrastructure development and rural employment programmes. The first agreement is for $ 700 million to India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), as a follow-up to an earlier loan of $ 500 million granted for 1,007 infrastructure projects. ADB will release the amount in three installments over three years, according to an Indian Finance Ministry statement quoted by UAE News Agency "WAM". The second loan of $ 150 million is to promote rural industries, including for hand-made cloth and garments called "khadi," in Hindi language.
