India

India is the second most populous country and is home to 1.35 billion people. India is also the 5th largest economy in the world. However, development of infrastructure such as roads, railways, power, water supply and sewerage, has not kept pace with both economic growth and population growth of the country. India also faces many challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) pertaining to nutrition, health and gender. Moreover, 15 million people enter the labour market annually therefore it is imperative to strengthen the manufacturing capacity and focus on human resource development through provisioning of quality education and vocational training.

JICA has been partnering with Govt. of India and various state governments for poverty alleviation, investment promotion as well as for infrastructure development for 60 years. JICA's assistance is not limited to initiatives such as Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) but also other initiatives of development of the North Eastern Region (NER) of India, strengthening academia-industry networks, and Japan-India collaborative projects in Africa under the "Free and Open Indo Pacific". All these initiatives contribute to the development of India and also foster stronger relations between Japan and India.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted economic activities in the country, there is a growing need for not only strengthening health and medical systems, but also for supporting the revival of MSME sector and extending social protection to the population, who are deeply affected by the pandemic. In order to address these needs, standard assistance schemes of JICA such as ODA loan and technical cooperation are already under implementation. Furthermore, JICA is striving to enhance collaboration with private sectors and NGOs in diverse fields to deepen the impact of JICA's initiatives in the country.