The World Bank has agreed in principle to provide financial assistance to the tune of $500 mn over the next four years for the National e-Governance Action Plan (NEGAP). In its present form, NEGAP consists of 10 functional components and 25 Mission Mode Projects, to be completed in a timeframe of four years. In addition to approving the Indian government's e-governance project agenda, the bank also gave its nod for additional support, depending upon the need, absorption capacity and rapid disbursement of initial financing.

The World Bank proposal comes after the India government started a dialogue with the bank for possible support for its NEGAP in end-2003. A final decision regarding the details of the bank's support, including amount of financing and other modalities is expected to be forthcoming within the next 9-12 months.

"The next few months would be spent by the Indian government in preparing a pre-assessment, which might take place in June, followed by the appraisal from the World Bank around September," said Deepak Bhatia, manager, E-Government Applications Group of World Bank. "This would further be followed by negotiations and meetings with the various ministries and states which, if all goes well, would lead to funding around Dec 05-Jan 06."

Apart form providing funds, the World Bank is also likely to support India's e-governance initiative at the management and capacity building level. The learning of the bank, while working with the Indian government, will be useful for similar plans in other developing countries as well.

Jasmine Kaur, New Delhi

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