Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) is a bilateral assistance programme run by the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
. It is a demand-driven, response-oriented programme that focuses on addressing the needs of developing countries through innovative technological cooperation between
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the partnering nation. Along with its corollary the Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme, ITEC covers 158 countries across
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
,
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
, and several
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and
Caribbean nations. Since its inception, the programme has spent over US$ 2 billion and benefited thousands of students and professionals from around the globe and annual expenditure on the programme has averaged US$ 100 million per annum in recent years.
History
ITEC was officially launched on 15 September 1964 but for decades it remained a marginal programme as India itself was dependent on international aid. ITEC was an important part of India's attempt to contributing to
South-South cooperation. India's aid for its neighbours began in the 1950s through assistance to
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. However, until the 1990s, India was also the world largest recipient of aid, receiving a cumulative sum of US$ 55 billion since its
independence in 1947. The ITEC programme has grown in scope and size since the 2000s as India's economy grew rapidly. With
foreign aid
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.
Ai ...
it receives accounting for only 0.3% of its GDP, India has now emerged as a net donor of foreign aid. Its National Agricultural Research System under the
Indian Council for Agricultural Research
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...
, one of the largest in the world, and the
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Indira Gandhi National Open University, known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20& ...
have played key roles in facilitating ITEC assistance.
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
accounts for 70% of the grants dispersed under ITEC.
Lines of credit
A line of credit is a Credit (finance), credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or Personal finance, individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer nee ...
are also offered under ITEC and African nations have been the major beneficiaries under this head.
Scope of ITEC
Assistance under ITEC covers the six areas of training for civil and defence personnel, projects and project related activities such as consultancy services, study tours, donation of equipment, deputation of Indian experts in the partner nation and aid for disaster relief.
Personnel training under ITEC covers a wide and varied range of sectors such as
banking
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
,
IT and computers,
personnel management
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...
and administrative and scientific areas. ITEC is administered by the
Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and all expenses including international airfare, boarding, lodging and tuition fees of selected personnel are borne by the Indian authorities.
Although ITEC is essentially a bilateral programme, its resources have also been used for financing trilateral and regional undertakings such as with the
Economic Commission for Africa
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA or ECA; french: link=no, Commission économique pour l'Afrique, CEA) was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its ...
,
UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in e ...
and
G-77. In Africa,
Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organisation,
COMESA
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whic ...
, the
African Union Commission
The Commission of the African Union acts as the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the African Union (and is somewhat analogous to the European Commission). It consists of a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of ...
and
G-15 receive training and project support under ITEC.
Augmenting Soft Power
The ITEC programme has significantly augmented India's soft power among developing nations. Indian public sector companies such as
Hindustan Machine Tools
HMT Limited, formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, is a Public sector undertakings in India, state owned company under the control of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. It was founded in 1953 as a machine tool manufactu ...
,
Water and Power Consultancy Services
WAPCOS Limited, earlier known as Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited, is an Indian consultancy service provider under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The firm pr ...
(WAPCOS),
Rail India Technical and Economic Services
Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...
(RITES) that were closely associated with the programme have been able to establish themselves and become well known in developing countries where they have gone on to bid independently for various projects. It has also helped foster contacts between Indian entrepreneurs with decision makers in other developing countries. While monetary assistance under ITEC remained limited for a long while owing to India's own impoverished conditions, technical advice and training for foreign personnel, deputing Indian
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
s abroad to help poorer governments with their professional expertise and providing training in India for civil servants from abroad all helped provide for good future relations with recipient countries.
Hamid Karzai's education in India for instance is seen as one of the key reasons why
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
has warmed up to India ever since the ouster of the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
government in 2001.
To commemorate its achievements and to bring together beneficiaries of the programme in the host country,
Indian embassies and consulates around the globe celebrate an ITEC Day every year.
An Indian Aid Agency
In 2012, the
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) set up a Development Partnership Administration (DPA) under its Economic Relations Division to consolidate outgoing aid and to streamline administrative matters related to such aid. The idea for such an aid agency had been mooted previously by
Finance Ministers
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Jaswant Singh
Major Jaswant Singh (; 3 January 193827 September 2020) was an officer of the Indian Army and an Indian Cabinet Minister. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was one of India's longest serving parliamen ...
and
P Chidambaram
Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...
variously as the India Development Assistance and the India International Development Cooperation Agency.
Global Impact of ITEC
South Asian nations have traditionally been the largest recipients of Indian aid both as part of ITEC and otherwise. Under the Twelfth
Five Year Plan, 1,500 crore have been earmarked for developmental assistance to
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
. Bhutan has traditionally been the largest recipient of Indian aid. In Afghanistan and Myanmar, India has focused on building infrastructure such as roads, buildings and hospitals besides providing training to their personnel. In
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, Indian assistance has focused on rebuilding that country, especially its Tamil majority areas in the
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
east
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
that were the worst affected, by fighting during the
Sri Lankan Civil War. An important strategy in utilising development aid has been the Small Development Projects (SDP) scheme which focuses on low cost projects that aim at creating infrastructure and technical capabilities that directly affects local communities and supports their socioeconomic development.
ITEC has also been an important component of India's assistance to African nations. In recent years, India has increased its assistance to various African nations and groupings. The focus is now on areas such as transfer of technology and the development of projects like the
Pan-African e-Network project Pan African e-Network project is an information and communications technology (ICT) project between India and the African Union that seeks to connect the 55 member states of the Union through a satellite and fibre-optic network to India and to each ...
that will link African nations with Indian institutions and expertise. India also continues to provide extensive opportunities for human resource development and personnel training in these countries. There is also a special corollary to augment ITEC for African nations called the Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP).
References
{{Reflist
Indian foreign aid