Announcement of India Borrows Thirty Million Dollars for Cooperative Societies on December 22, 1978

' . FOR IMMEDIATE -RELEASE •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. •Telephone: (202) 477-1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 79/36 December 22, 1978 INDIA BORROWS $30 MILLION FOR COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES India's efforts to strengthen multipurpose village cooperatives will be assisted by a credit of $30 million from the International Develop- ment Association (IDA), an affiliate of the World Bank. The $64 million project will help India's National Cooperative Development Corporation strengthen cooperative institutions at the State level and to promote the discipline of sound project evaluation and super- vision criteria in the cooperative sector. The project includes construc- tion of warehouses for village level cooperatives and technical assistance . • Some six million farm family members of cooperatives will benefit. Over 65% of these farmers are landless or smallholders having less than five hectares. The project will also generate additional employment oppor- tunities in the rural sector. The warehouses will help to reduce waste and spoilage of foodgrains and fertilizer. The IDA credit to India is for 50 years including 10 years of grace. It is interest free, except for a service charge of 3/4 of 1% to meet IDA's administrative costs. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents . • FORM NO. 1121 (5-76) T ECHNI CAL D A T A PROJECT: COUNTRY: TOTAL COST: National Cooperative Development India $63.9 million • I DA FI NANC I NG : $30 million, standard IDA terms OTHER FINANCING: National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Participating State Governments and Cooperatives IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCOC) Eros Apartments 56 Nehru Place New Delhi 110 019. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project is intended to strengthen th~ Institutional framework res pons i b1e fo·r promoting and financing deve 1op- ment of cooperatives, particularly village level multipurpose cqoperative societies. The project helps NCDC and State Cooperative Banks to introduce a more disciplined, project- oriented approach to financing basic facilities for village cooperative societies, • regional marketing cooperatives and state-level cooperative federations. Investments comprise construction of godowns for these cooperative institutions. Technical assistance, vehicles and engineering instruments are also financed. PROCU.REMENT: The project involves small investments by individual cooperatives spread over time and throughout three States. Procurement of goods and services will be on the basis of local competitive bidding. ECONOMIC RATE OF RETURN 22% ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 1984 - 0 - •