Exim Bank, JBIC offer funding assistance to India vaccine makers to boost production
The eligibility for the funding will be assessed by Exim Bank and the funding will be given by JBIC
New Delhi: Financial institutions Exim Bank and Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) have held talks with Indian vaccine makers to explore the possibility of funding assistance to expand their manufacturing capacity. The development comes amid surging global demand for Covid-19 vaccine.
Executives of Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, Gennova, Zydus Cadila, Aurobindo Pharma and Wockhardt were part of the meeting with the lending institutions.
Quadrilateral Dialogue Partnership
The talks are considered the first step of a Quadrilateral Dialogue Partnership, a strategic multilateral initiative between India, US, Japan and Australia.
The meeting was aimed at recognising and plugging gaps in funding so that vaccine makers are able to scale up production after successfully completing clinical trials of experimental shots, Mint reported citing people who were a part of the meeting.
The financial institutions have offered to lend up to $300 million. The eligibility for the funding will be assessed by Exim Bank and the funding will be given by JBIC.
India has deployed three major vaccines in its inoculation drive — Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V. Moderna has got the green signal from the government but the jabs are yet to arrive here.
Apart from these, there are at least seven more vaccines that are in different stages of clinical development.
Foreign funding
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to provide concessional yen loans to India to expand manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines for exports.
Japan is also expected to extend financial assistance worth $41 million for the purchase of vaccines and cold chain facilities.
Global financial institutions have offered funding to countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to aid the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.