On Monday, the Indian government rejected reports on social media that India had asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to cut its lending to Pakistan. The government explained that these reports were "baseless and untrue."
Previous reports had indicated that the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had brought up the issue with ADB President Masato Kanda in a meeting and requested the bank to reduce its financial support to Pakistan. But the Finance Ministry quickly came out with a clarification that there was no talk related to Pakistan at the meeting. The ministry confirmed that such reports were false.
The Press Information Bureau Fact Check also dispelled the claim on X (formerly Twitter), terming it as "completely fake" and saying India had never made any such a request. The PIB also called on the public to only depend on official sources of government information.
In the meeting with Finance Minister Sitharaman, ADB President Kanda expressed the bank's full support for India's development priorities, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a "Viksit Bharat 2047" (Developed India by 2047). Sitharaman, on the other hand, reaffirmed India's emphasis being on private sector-led economic growth, citing India's forward policy and regulatory push, including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Corporate Tax Rate Cut, Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, Production-Linked Incentives, National Infrastructure Pipeline, GatiShakti National Master Plan, and the Startup India program.
The Finance Minister also emphasized India's willingness to engage ADB in piloting new financing models and products to support the country's development agenda.
Separately, on the margins of the 58th ADB Annual Meeting, Sitharaman met her Italian counterpart Giancarlo Giorgetti to explore how to deepen India-Italy economic ties and deepen cooperation on global and multilateral issues of common interest.
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