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The <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword> it seems is very serious on helping PM <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>'s Swachh Bharat dream. It approved a US$1.5 billion loan for the <keyword id="2312336" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Swachh-Bharat-Mission">Swachh Bharat Mission</keyword> (SBM) Support Operation Project to support the Modi government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation – such as a toilet or latrine with a focus on changing behaviors – in ending the practice of open defecation by 2019. 

	Today, of the 2.4 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation globally, more than 750 million live in India, with 80 percent living in rural areas. More than 500 million of the rural population in India continue to defecate in the open, suffering from preventable deaths, illness, stunting, harassment and economic losses.
 

	In view of this situation, the project will support the rural component, known as SBM – Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year period using a new performance-based program which links funds directly to results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need – more than 60 percent of India’s rural population.
 The SBM-G program focuses on ensuring usage of <keyword id="68945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Toilets">toilets</keyword> along with their construction. States and their implementing agencies will be given incentives for meeting performance standards. Performance will be measured against the states’ ability to reduce open defecation, sustaining their open defecation free (ODF) status and improving solid and liquid waste management in rural areas. The financing mechanism promotes the leadership of the states, which will have flexibility in innovating and adopting their own delivery models. “One in every ten deaths in India is linked to poor sanitation. And studies show that low-income households bear the maximum brunt of poor sanitation. This project, aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Initiative of the government, will result in significant health benefits for the poor and vulnerable, especially those living in rural areas,” said <keyword id="1375051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Onno-Ruhl">Onno Ruhl</keyword>, World Bank Country Director for India in a company statement. “Incentivizing good performance by states and the focus on behavioral changes are two important components of this project,” he added. 

	The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) will play the overseeing and coordinating role for the Program and support the participating states. Funds will also be used to develop the capacity of MDWS in program management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation.
 

	“India has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in pursuing the ambitious SBM campaign and embracing the focus on behavior to complement the construction of toilets,” said Annette Dixon, World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region. “It is our privilege to support the Indian government in this initiative and we look forward to working side by side.”
 

	The World Bank will also provide a parallel US$25 million technical assistance to build the capacity of select state governments in implementing community-led behavioral change programs targeting social norms to help ensure widespread usage of toilets by rural households.
 

	“This program, built on lessons learnt from global and national sanitation projects, represents a fundamental change in approach and recognizes the importance of coupling investments in the construction of toilets to its usage. For it to succeed, large-scale social mobilization for behavior change is critical at the community level,” said Soma Ghosh Moulik, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist and the project’s Task Team Leader.“Third party assessments and regular monitoring will provide reliable information on the project’s progress,” she added.

World bank comes forward to help PM Modi realize his Swachh Bharat dream

In yet another boost to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (<keyword id="6358354" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="MSME">MSME</keyword>) sector, the government has signed a loan agreement worth $200 million with the <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword> (IBRD) for Technology Centre System Programme (TCSP) project. The project aims to improve MSME’s access to better technology and business advisory services as well as improve skill development for workers through financially sustainable technology centres, which would lead a substantial increase in the productivity. 
	 
	“TCSP is for setting-up of 15 new Technology Centres (TCs) and to modernize and upgrade existing 18 TCs at an estimated cost of Rs. 2200 crore (US$ 400 million) including World Bank assistance of US$ 200 million”, said the Ministry of Finance in a statement. 
	 
	It further added that the project has been divided into three levels which include technical assistance to the TCs, making investment to upgrade and develop the existing TCs and lastly providing technical assistance to the MSME Ministry for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project. 
	 The agreement was signed by Onno Ruhl, Country Director (India), World Bank and Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary, <keyword id="144110" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Department-of-Economic-Affairs">Department of Economic Affairs</keyword>. The loan has been extended for a period of five years.

India Signs Loan Agreement With World Bank

The <keyword id="6385673" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="power-sector">power sector</keyword> of the sub-continent will be facing annual losses of $27 billion by 2017, according to a <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword> estimate. The organisation also suggested that electricity distribution in India would require sweeping reforms to tackle inefficient subsidies, theft and political meddling in utility companies. 
 <keyword id="2373113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="New-Prime-Minister-Narendra-Modi">New Prime Minister Narendra Modi</keyword> has pledged to bring electricity to the 300 million Indians who have to do without electricity. He has also promised to improve the reliability of supplies, one of the biggest complaints of companies doing business in the country. 
 
Incidentally, large parts of northern India is suffering from severe power cuts this summer. With the mercury rising, there is a huge jump in demand that suppliers and an antiquated transmission system failed to meet. 
 
Despite the gains made in the past decade when 280 million Indians gained access to electricity, India would struggle to make further progress unless it gives its utilities the freedom to improve their performance, the World Bank said. 
 
These State-owned companies should be able to raise tariffs in line with their costs and receive more compensation for the subsidies they provide to rural users, the World Bank noted. Companies should also improve their accountability to regulators and consumers, it added. 
 
Onno Ruhl, World Bank’s country director in India, said, "Two decades after the initiation of reforms, an inefficient, loss-making distribution segment and inadequate and unreliable power supply are major constraints to India's aspirations for growth. 
 "<keyword id="2373115" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Revitalising-the-power-sector">Revitalising the power sector</keyword> by improving the performance of distribution utilities and ensuring that players in the sector are subjected to financial discipline is the need of the hour," he added. 
 
By tackling the losses through a focused approach, it should be possible to make a marked difference in sector performance, the report concluded.

​India’s Power Sector Facing Annual Losses Of $27 Billion By 2017: World Bank

India has aimed to climb into the top 30 countries of the <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword>'s <keyword id="2939650" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="ease-of-doing-business-rankings">ease of doing business rankings</keyword> in three years and sought help from the World Bank to achieve the same. The country is working hard to break into the top 100 in this year's list, which will be released soon. To discuss this matter, the Department of Industrial Policy &amp; Promotion (<keyword id="6391107" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="DIPP">DIPP</keyword>) has recently held a meeting, reported the Economic Times. 

	The DIPP will release its own ease of doing business rankings for states by August 15. It will assess states on seven parameters, including setting up of a business, allotment of land and obtaining construction permit, complying with labour regulations and environment procedures and obtaining infrastructure-related utilities.
 

	"We have started preparing the road map to push India further up the rankings next year," a senior government official told the financial daily. 
 

	"The session was conducted to identify what India needs to do more and with timelines after interaction with the stakeholders. The target is to break into the top 30 in the next three years," he said. 
 India was ranked 142nd out of 189 countries - below <keyword id="6355572" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sri-Lanka">Sri Lanka</keyword> and <keyword id="3001" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Pakistan">Pakistan</keyword> - in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings benchmarked to June 2014. The list is based on 10 parameters such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, <keyword id="1219258" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="paying-taxes">paying taxes</keyword>, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. 

	A World Bank team that met central and state government officials on Monday signaled that enforcing contracts is a key area of concern for India. World Bank's India Director Onno Ruhl was also present in the meeting. 
 

	The government and World Bank took stock of progress on reforms related to construction permits in Mumbai and New Delhi, getting an electricity connection and doing business. The government looked at global best practices in key areas that could be adopted in India.
 

	The official told ET: "The challenges are on two issues essentially — one is enforcement of contracts, where the judiciary needs to take action, and the other is the insolvency law, which the TK Viswanathan committee is working on."
 

	When it comes to enforcement of contracts, the World Bank follows the evolution of a sale of a goods dispute, tracking the time, cost and number of procedures involved from the moment the plaintiff files a lawsuit until actual payment. India requires 1,420 days and 46 procedures in enforcement of contracts and is ranked 186 on this count.
 

	On the overall ranking in the current year, the official said, "We expect India to emerge as the biggest reformer with a substantial improvement in our rankings. We have done what best was possible in the last eight months. In fact, the work has already started for next year," he said. 
 

	In resolving insolvencies, India is ranked 137. The government has set up a committee last year on bankruptcy law reform chaired by former law secretary TK Viswanathan, which released its interim report earlier this year. The report will form the basis for a new law on bankruptcy and look at corporate insolvency in the country.
 <keyword id="44749" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Foreign-Direct-Investment">Foreign direct investment</keyword> inflows into India more than doubled to $3.6 billion in April from $1.7 billion a year earlier and increased 71% from the previous month. 

	Among steps taken to improve ease of doing business in the country are the withdrawal of the requirement of minimum paid-up capital and common seal for companies, allowing single-step incorporation of companies and integration of 14 government services on an online single-window portal. 
 

	Cross-border trade has been made easier by cutting the number of forms for export and import to three from seven and nine, respectively. 
	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

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World bank comes forward to help PM Modi realize his Swachh Bharat dream

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India Signs Loan Agreement With World Bank

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India’s Power Sector Facing Annual Losses Of $27 Billion By 2017: World Bank

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You Searched For "Onno Ruhl" and got 4 results

World bank comes forward to help PM Modi realize his Swachh Bharat dream

Anushree Singh

India Signs Loan Agreement With World Bank

Purba Das

​India’s Power Sector Facing Annual Losses Of $27 Billion By 2017: World Bank

BI India Bureau

India is ready to burn the midnight oil to be among top 30 nations in ease of doing business index

BI India Bureau

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India’s Power Sector Facing Annual Losses Of $27 Billion By 2017: World Bank