• EIB delegation to meet banking leaders gathering at a G20 event.
  • EIB to visit Agra Metro — one of six transport projects EIB has supported in the country. India is the largest beneficiary of EIB transport financing outside Europe.

European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice-President Kris Peeters will make a four-day business visit to India this week to strengthen cooperation with Indian public and private sector partners and to discuss EIB support for clean energy investment and transport in the country.

The aim of the visit is to confirm the EIB’s commitment to future investment under the EU-India Connectivity Partnership, in support of the European Green Deal and the EU Global Gateway strategy, and in support of India’s own ambitious agenda on climate, renewable energy, connectivity and sustainable finance, in particular by supporting projects with strong climate action benefits.

Vice-President Peeters will visit the G20 Infrastructure Investors Dialogue (IID), where he will meet banking leaders. The G20 IID is an official G20 event organised during the third meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Vice-President Peeters will join a panel on “Catalysing sustainable finance for cities of tomorrow,” as a representative of the EIB, which heads the D20 Long-Term Investors Club. 

“The European Investment Bank, the EU bank, is committed to supporting transformational private and public investment across India, improving access to finance by entrepreneurs and addressing the challenges of a changing climate. India is a key country of operations for the EIB and hosts the EIB regional representation for South Asia. Over the last 30 years, the EIB has supported public and private sector investment in the country. My financial and technical colleagues and I look forward to discussing how to strengthen resilience to existing and new challenges and enhance the impact of future EIB engagement in India,” said EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters.

Vice-President Peeters will confirm the EIB’s interest in supporting the recently approved National Green Hydrogen Mission with a facility of up to €1 billion in support of the nascent Indian green hydrogen ecosystem and renewable energy projects. He will highlight the EIB's interest in boosting India's renewable energy ambitions by backing renewable energy generation, as well as enabling technologies and infrastructure for energy storage, power transmission and distribution. 

The EIB delegation will also meet Shri Sushil Kumar, Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRCL), to visit the Agra Metro project backed by a €250 million EIB loan and to further strengthen the operational partnership.

The Bank’s support for transport in India includes the financing of metro investment in Agra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Kanpur and Lucknow, with a total of €2.45 billion committed since 2016. This makes India the largest beneficiary of EIB transport financing outside Europe.

The EIB is seeking to build on its considerable expertise in the urban mobility sector and in renewable energy by continuing to support these sectors and is exploring other areas of strategic importance for India and the European Union.

Background information

About EIB Global in India:

The EIB is the largest multilateral public bank in the world. In 2022 it financed around €10.8 billion in investments outside of the European Union via EIB Global, the arm of the EIB created that same year for activities beyond Europe. Since the beginning of its operations in India in 1993, the EIB has supported 26 projects in the country and has invested close to €5 billion in transport, energy, agriculture, fisheries and forestry projects as well as India’s small and medium enterprises.

About EIB Global in Asia:

EIB Global has been providing economic support for projects in Asia since 2022, facilitating long-term investment with favourable conditions and offering the technical support needed to ensure that these projects deliver positive social, economic and environmental results. For 25 years, the EIB has supported economic development in Asia and the Pacific region. The projects we finance make people’s lives easier — from cutting travel times in Bangalore with a new metro line, to providing cheaper, cleaner energy to western Nepal. In Asia, we have chosen to focus our lending on climate action across all sectors. We also work to include gender equality in our projects, ensuring that women, men, girls and boys can benefit from projects equally and equitably.

About the Global Gateway initiative

EIB Global is a key partner in the implementation of the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative, supporting sound projects that improve global and regional connectivity in the digital, climate, transport, health, energy and education sectors. Investing in connectivity is at the very heart of what EIB Global does, building on the Bank’s 65 years of experience in this domain. Alongside our partners, fellow EU institutions and Member States, we aim to support investment of €100 billion (around one-third of the overall envelope of the initiative) by the end of 2027, including in India and Asia.