Five-Year ADB strategy targets urban mobility and infrastructure in India

The ADB announces a groundbreaking five-year strategy to improve India’s urban infrastructure through metro networks, RRTS, and public-private partnerships.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masato Kanda announced a 5-year initiative aimed at transforming urban infrastructure across India, directing up to $10 billion, including third-party capital, into urban transformation, including metro extensions, new regional rapid transit system (RRTS) corridors, and urban infrastructure and services.

“Cities are engines of growth,” Kanda said after meeting Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. “ADB will mobilise capital, accelerate delivery, and scale solutions that keep India’s urban economy moving and people thriving on the road to Viksit Bharat in 2047.”

The strategy consists of sovereign loans, private sector financing, and third-party capital. The project is led by India’s flagship Urban Challenge Fund (UCF), which ADB is assisting in attracting private investment for urban development. The UCF is being built on the foundation of completed analytical work on growth hubs, innovative city redevelopment, and water and sanitation upgrades in 100 Indian communities. ADB will also provide $3 million in technical assistance to help states and urban local governments create bankable projects and increase their capabilities.

By 2030, over 40 per cent of India’s population will live in towns and cities. ADB has previously engaged with over 110 cities in 22 states on water supply, sanitation, housing, and solid-waste management projects, with an active urban portfolio totalling 27 loans worth $5.15 billion. In terms of urban transport, ADB has committed $4 billion over the last decade to metro projects and RRTS spanning 300 kilometres in eight cities, including the Delhi-Meerut RRTS, Mumbai Metro, Nagpur Metro, Chennai Metro, and Bengaluru Metro, reducing congestion and emissions while increasing access for vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities.

ADB will also invest in skill development through the National Industrial Training Institute Upgradation Program, which aims to boost the manufacturing sector, catalyse private sector growth, and create quality jobs, particularly for India’s youth.

During his visit, Kanda also met with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss extending metro networks, including transit-oriented development (TOD), promoting rural prosperity, increasing rooftop solar capacity, and implementing the UCF. In addition, he met with Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal to discuss next steps for directing private finance into urban projects, repeating ADB-backed urban transit successes on new lines, and developing TOD potential.

Kanda visited the ADB-supported Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor, India’s first RRTS, and spoke with women whose lives had been changed by project-linked training. In Gurugram, he visited the renewable energy company ReNew to discuss increased collaboration in renewable energy, followed by a roundtable with CEOs from infrastructure, finance, agricultural, and social sector firms. During the meeting, he emphasised that India’s private sector has the scale and dynamism required to fuel the country’s economic progress.
According to ADB’s country partnership strategy for India, 2023-2027, it is prepared to contribute more than $5 billion in finance per year, including around $1 billion in non-sovereign operations to stimulate additional private investment.

The ADB commenced operations in India in 1986. By April 2025, it had pledged $59.5 billion in sovereign funding and $9.1 billion in non-sovereign investments. As of April 2025, the active sovereign portfolio totalled 81 loans for $16.5 billion.

ADB is a renowned multilateral development bank that promotes inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific. ADB works with its members and partners to solve complex challenges by leveraging innovative financial tools and strategic collaborations to transform lives, construct great infrastructure, and protect our planet. ADB was founded in 1966 and is owned by 69 people; 50 of them are from the region.

For more details, visit: https://www.adb.org/