ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK

• Recently, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has been appointed vice-president of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
• In October 2021, the Union Minister of Finance participated in the 6th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of AIIB.

Important points:

• It is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia.
• It aims to connect people, services and markets that over time will impact the lives of billions and build a better future by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors.
• It is established by the AIIB Articles of Agreement (entered into force December 2015) which is a multilateral treaty.
• It is headquartered in Beijing (China) and began its operations in January 2016.

Key Accomplishments

• AIIB began operations in 2016 with 57 founding Members (37 regional and 20 non regional). By the end of 2020, it had 103 approved Members representing approximately 79% of the global population and 65% of global GDP.
• Since 2017, AIIB has received AAA ratings with a stable outlook from the top credit rating agencies— Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch.
• Industry recognition of its sound financial standing has enabled it to expand its presence in international capital markets.

AIIB and India:

• The AIIB has approved more loans for India than any other member of the bank.
• China is its biggest shareholder and India is the second-largest.
• The AIIB has funded 28 projects in India amounting to USD6.7 billion.
• It has recently emphasised green projects and supporting public health initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic, besides infrastructure.
• In October 2021, India applied for loans from the AIIB and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to procure 667 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines with the ADB expected to lend USD1.5 billion and the AIIB around USD500 million, under the ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) initiative.
• Last year (2021), the AIIB also approved a USD356.67 million loan to the Indian government to support the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT