Development Partnerships

The Government of India’s approach to Development Partnership has been shaped by India’s struggle for independence and solidarity with other colonized and developing countries and the inspiring leadership of Mahatma Gandhi who said "I do want to think in terms of the whole world. My patriotism includes the good of mankind in general. Therefore, my service to India includes the service of humanity”. Despite its own resource constraints, India has been sharing its developmental experiences and technical expertise with other countries in the spirit of "VasudhaivaKutumbakam”.

India’s approach to development is mainly human-centric and is marked by Respect, Diversity, Care for the future, and Sustainable development. For India, the most fundamental principle in cooperation is respecting development partners and be guided by their development priorities. India’s development cooperation does not come with any conditions, as stated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in his address at the Parliament of Uganda in July 2018, "Our development partnership will be guided by your priorities. It will be on terms that will be comfortable for you, that will liberate your potential and not constrain your future… We will build as much local capacity and create as many local opportunities as possible”.

Indian model of developmental cooperation is comprehensive and involves multiple instruments including grant-in-aid, line of credit and capacity building and technical assistance. Depending on the priorities of partner countries, India’s development cooperation ranges from commerce to culture, energy to engineering, health to housing, IT to infrastructure, sports to science, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to restoration and preservation of cultural and heritage assets.

Learn more about Development Partnership athttps://meadashboard.gov.in/

Development assistance in the form of concessional Lines of Credit (LOCs) is extended by the Government of India (GoI) under the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS) through the Exim Bank of India. In total, more than 260 LOCs worth over US$ 26 billion have been extended to nearly 62 countries across the world. These LOCs cover around 600 projects in sectors like railways, roads, agriculture, industry, airport, sports stadiums, port, hospitals, disaster management, hydroelectricity, power transmission and Information Technology etc.

Out of the total LOCs, in keeping with the high priority we attach with the neighbouring countries under India’s "Neighbourhood First” Policy, we have extended LOCs worth US$ 7.86 billion to Bangladesh, more than US$ 2 billion to Sri Lanka, US$ 1.43 billion to Maldives, over US$ 1 Billion to Mauritius, US$ 750 million to Nepal, and US$ 745 million to Myanmar.

There is a special focus on regional connectivity initiatives in the neighbourhood under GoI LOCs as these can act as force multipliers to accelerate regional growth & development, promote people-to-people contact and encourage trade and commerce. GoI has extended more than 160 LOCs worth nearly US$ 10 billion to Africa, around 60 LOCs worth nearly 16 billion to Asia. Commitment across Latin America stands above US$ 715 million, that to Oceania and Commonwealth of Independent States at around US$ 155 million each.

India has always cooperated and collaborated with the Global South, be it power projects in Sudan, Burundi, Mauritius and Rwanda; sugar plants in Ethiopia and Malawi; technology parks in Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire and Eswatini; campuses built by India universities in Tanzania and Uganda; Metro project in Mauritius; Hanimaadhoo International Airport in Maldives; railway projects in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Parliament building of Gambia etc. Lines of Credit as an instrument enable Government of India to cooperate with partner countries for infrastructure development and betterment of the lives of their people.

Guided by the development priorities of partner countries, Government of India extends grant assistance to support their inclusive and sustainable development efforts across sectors such as:

Physical and Social infrastructure
Energy, including Clean Energy Transition
Connectivity
Healthcare and Education
Disaster Resilience
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

Under this framework, over 80 projects have been completed in the last decade across countries in the neighbourhood, the Indian Ocean Region, Latin America and the Caribbean, among others. Some major projects include:

Afghanistan: Afghan-India Friendship Dam, Parliament Building
Mauritius: Metro Express, Supreme Court Building, Civil Services College, Social Housing project
Nepal: Jayanagar-Bardibas Cross Border Rail Link, Integrated Check Posts at Nepalgunj and Birgunj
Sri Lanka: Indian Housing Project, Multi-Specialty Hospital in Dickoya, Cultural Centre in Jaffna
Maldives: National College for Police and Law Enforcement, Ministry of Defence building
Myanmar: Sittwe port under Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Corridor (KMTTC), Myanmar Institute of Information Technology
South Africa: Gandhi Mandela Centre of Specialization for Artisan Skills
Senegal: Up-gradation of Entrepreneur and Technical Development Centre

With evolving development priorities, DPI has emerged as a key pillar of cooperation. India Stack MoUs have been signed with 24 countries across the Global South, enabling technology transfer adapted to local legal/regulatory frameworks, alongside capacity building, knowledge sharing and funding support for inclusive digital transformation. Other important Indian DPI projects include development of UPI-like instant payment system in Peru, Namibia and Trinidad & Tobago; pilot DigiLocker project in Kenya and Data Center project in Ethiopia, all currently under implementation. Further, UPI merchant payments are enabled in Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, UAE, France (limited), Mauritius and Qatar.

Within the DPA, DPA-II Division is designated for carrying out development partnerships in the form of capacity building initiatives. Apart from the flagship ITEC scheme (which provides fully funded training opportunities at eminent Indian training institutions for government professionals), DPA-II Division also carries out capacity building initaitves in the form of foriegn deployment of Indian experts, IT-related trainings through establishment of Centres of Excellence in IT (CEIT) projects, and organisation of artificial limb fitment camps.

ITEC

The ITEC scheme provides training opportunities for civilian, defence and paramilitary governent professionals from the Global South countries. Courses are offered both on a multi-country basis, as well as on a country specific customised basis. ITEC courses are also offered as special training packages like Sagar Amrut (for Pacific Island countries) and the Quad infrastructure fellowship (for Indo-Pacific countries).

With a rich domestic training landscape, ITEC is able to offer courses ranging from conventional development subjects like agriculture and entrepreneurship to advanced technology oriented subjects like AI, biotechnology and cyber. ITEC training courses are designed as short duration, residential, immersive courses with both class room and experiential content, supplemented with cultural exposures to India’s vibrant cultural landscape. Government professionals interested in availing of the ITEC trainings apply through the Indian embassies but are required to be nominated by their governments to participate in these courses. The entire process is administered through a web-based porrtal. Course offerings are differentiated into ITEC-Security (for paramiliatry officials), ITEC-Executive (for senior officials) and ITEC-Professionals (for practicing members of regulated professions).

Over the years, the ITEC scheme has not only become a visible tool of India’s bilateral diplomacy but also become a recognised name in the global capacity building landscape. It is estimated that since its inception in 1964, the ITEC scheme has trained closed to 400,000 government officials from the countries of the Global South.

Currently, the ITEC schemes offers about 12000 slots (in almost 400 courses) each year for civilian/paramilitary trainings and around 3900 slots (in almost 100+ courses) each year for training at defence establishments.

ITEC-Experts and ITEC-Onsite

Capacity building support abroad through foreign deputation of Indian experts is also carried out by DPA II Division under the ITEC Scheme. Such experts are deployed either as training teams, or as individual deputations to designated foreign government organisations.

DPA II Division also provides consultancy based capacity building support abroad through institutions through the ITEC-Onsite modality.

CEIT projects

In order to provide capacity building trainings in IT related subjects, MEA offers project-based assistance by setting up and operating for 2 years industry-standard Centres of Excellence in IT (CEIT) at higher education institutions abroad. A total of 58 CEIT projects in 47 countries have been implemented till date, with nearly 2 lakh trainees being trained in subjects like high performance computing, AI/ML and big data. Currently, CEIT projects at Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Argentina are operational.

India for Humanity Scheme

DPA II Division is the nodal division for implementing India For Humanity Scheme since 2018. Under this scheme, India offers full financial assistance to implement 60-day artificial limb fitment camps at countries abroad. The camps are conducted by a travelling team of prosthetic experts from the BMVSS (a renowned NGO) in partnership with the conerned Indian Mission and local hospitals/health departments.

A total of 35 artificial limbs fitment camps, fitted approximate 20,000 limbs, have been organized by the renowned NGO BMVSS of Jaipur under the ‘India for Humanity’ programme in the countries viz Vietnam, Myanmar, Malawi, Iraq, Kathmandu, Egypt, Senegal, Tanzania, Namibia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Syria, Uganda, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, Fiji, Lebanon, Cambodia, Palestine, Mongolia, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea.

Further updated details of the ITEC scheme may be seen at www.itecgoi.in

In October 2018, the ‘India for Humanity’ initiative was launched to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and honour his service to humanity. In collaboration with the NGO Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), popularly known as "Jaipur Foot,” the programme features year-long series of artificial limb fitment camps in a number of countries. A number of artificial limb fitment camps have already been organized in several countries in Asia and Africa.

In the current Corona crisis, India has extended COVID-related medical assistance including testing kits, protective gear and Hydorxychloroquine and other medicines to around 90 plus countries across the globe and its role as a reliable supplier of pharmaceauticals and medicines is globally recognised and appreciated.

Apart from supply of medical relief, India also extended technical assistance by way of despatching rapid response teams to Kuwait and Maldives.

Several e-ITEC webinars on handling the Corona pandemic have also been hosted for sharing experience and best practices with experts from other countries.

DPA IV Division is the focal point for MEA’s development partnership involving heritage and conservation in countries with strong cultural and civilizational linkages. Many of these projects are implemented by ASI, the designated technical agency under the Ministry of Culture. Projects currently under implementation are in Cambodia (Ta Prohm and Preah Vihear), Lao PDR (Vat Phou) and Vietnam (E & F) groups of Temples.

This Division also collaborates with other organizations to implement projects related to restoration and conservation of intangible heritage assets like murals, manuscripts etc. With IGNCA, the Division is implementing a mural conservation project in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. With IIC, DPA IV is implementing the project SAMHITA for research and digitisation of Indic manuscripts located at repositories abroad. The entire library of digitised manuscripts has been put in public domain as the ‘ South Asian Manuscript Histories and Textual Archive’ at https://samhita.iicdelhi.in/ .

ITEC