COVID 19 Crisis Response Programme Social Protection

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On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in cooperation with the World Bank, KfW is providing loans totaling EUR 460 million as part of policy-based financing for social security measures in the wake of the COVID pandemic in India. German development cooperation is supporting the Indian government together with other donors in a program to provide the population with social benefits during the Corona crisis and to reform important components of the Indian social system. The subject of the financing is an ambitious agenda of reforms and other results in the context of social security in the wake of the Corona crisis. The Indian government's aid program, which is the counterpart to the policy financing, includes the distribution of food to over 750 million people in need and cash transfers to several hundred million people. This support makes an important contribution to securing the livelihoods of economically and socially weak groups during the crisis. In a second step, India's social security system will be strengthened in the long term through systemic reforms. Previously, there were around 465 different social support programs in the country that were hardly interconnected. They are now to be gradually combined and integrated into a sustainably strengthened and more effective social security system. To date, the programs have often been aimed at the poor in rural areas, but from now on they will also take greater account of assistance for those affected in rapidly growing cities.