Bengal likely to get Rs 4,000cr ADB, KEXIM loans for industrial corridors
Times of India | 26 June 2026
Kolkata: Bengal is likely to get nearly $425 million (over Rs 4,000 crore) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) to build infrastructure and create a conducive ecosystem for industrialisation, officials said.
The Industrial and Economic Corridor Sector Development Programme is a $532 million project (around Rs 5,000 crore), of which ADB and KEXIM are expected to provide a soft loan of $350 million and $75 million, respectively. The Bengal govt will provide the remaining $107 million.
The investment will help in creating necessary infrastructure in two industrial corridors — Raghunathpur-Tajpur and Dankuni-Jhargram — where the private sector will be invited to invest.
The Raghunathpur-Tajpur corridor will go through Asansol, Raniganj, Durgapur, Burdwan, Dankuni and Uluberia. The Dankuni-Jhargram corridor will pass via Uluberia, Kharagpur and Jhargram. The investment will also develop the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri area.
Senior ADB officials on Tuesday held a meeting with CM Suvendu Adhikari’s adviser, Subrata Gupta, on these projects. They will be aimed at creating industry-supporting infrastructure in line with the development roadmap outlined in the state budget.
Bengal has identified nearly 2,962 acres of govt land to implement these projects. While the work in Raghunathpur, Asansol and Dankuni is at an advanced stage, in Durgapur, Howrah and Kharagpur it is in progress. ADB and KEXIM are likely to begin disbursing the loans in May 2027, an official said.
ADB has also proposed measures to modernise Kolkata’s urban transport system, including greater deployment of electric buses and expansion of public and shared mobility networks to curb air pollution.
The other proposals discussed included affordable rental housing for workers near industrial clusters, tourism circuits covering Darjeeling-Dooars-Kalimpong, Digha-Mandarmani-Tajpur, ecotourism in the Sundarbans and the Kolkata-Murshidabad-Bishnupur heritage belt, as well as large-scale water supply projects in north Bengal cities, officials said.