Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 70

Foreign Assistance in India’s Foreign Policy: Political and Economic Determinants 2002–03 92 2003–04 102 2004–05 116 2005–06 145 2006–07 188 2007–08 199 2008–09 328 2009–10 349 2010–11 463 2011–12 562 2012–13 788 2013–14 902 2014–15 929 2015–16 1,184 2016–17 602 2017–18 481 2018–19* 560 Source: Government of India, Ministry of Finance: Expenditure Budget, accessed July 12, 2018—http://indiabudget.nic.in/previousub.asp South Asia includes Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. *Budget estimates Of the grand total, since 1997, or $13,364 m, $7,796, or 58 percent (Tables 5A and 6), went to its South Asian neighbors. Thus, India’s non-Exim Bank Non-Plan grants and loans have gone mainly as grants, and primarily to its South Asian neighbors, with Afghanistan registering a presence since 2008–09 and Africa since 2005–06. Infrastructure, health, and education are the main focus of Indian development assistance in South Asia while assistance tied to purchases of Indian goods and services and technical training of civil servants and public sector managers is the main focus in Africa. An Indian company, usually a public sector company, has to be the lead contractor and 75 percent of goods and services should be sourced from India. However, there is an open bidding process among Indian companies and the choice of contractor among them is the host government prerogative. Consolidated data on the number of scholarships and training slots offered under the ITEC program and allied programs like the Technical Cooperation Scheme (TCS) of the Colombo Plan, and the Special Commonwealth Assistance to Africa Program (SCAAP), and the amounts spent on these, are still unavailable. However, in 67