The World Bank and India on Friday signed two agreements for a total loan of $ 407 million to scale up microfinance services in unbanked areas and improve capacity to generate quality statistics. The assisted projects are 'Scaling up Sustainable and Responsible Microfinance Project' (USD 300 million loan) and 'India Statistical Strengthening Project' (USD 107 million loan), the government said in a statement quoted by The Press Trus of India (PTI). "The objective of the project is to scale up access to sustainable microfinance services to the financially excluded, particularly in under-served areas of India," it said. The project will be implemented by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) over a period of 5 years.
