New Delhi, April 1: Japan has extended a soft loan of Rs 6,916 crore to India in 2006-07 for 11 projects in power, forest, urban transport and port.

“We are happy to extend this assistance to India. The amount is an increase of 18.93 per cent over Rs 5,910 crore given in the previous year,” said Yasukuni Enoki, Japanese ambassador to India, after the agreement for the loan was signed. Finance ministry joint secretary (bilateral cooperation) Sanjay Krishna signed the document on India’s behalf.

India will pay 1.3 per cent annual interest on the loan for general projects. However, the interest rate would be 0.75 per cent a year for the Visakhapatnam port expansion project and the Bangalore distribution upgradation project.

The repayment period will be 30 years for general projects and 15 years for other projects.

Enoki said India was the biggest loan recipient from Japan, which has committed Rs 92,622 crore assistance in 2006-07.

On the implementation of the Delhi Metro project with Japanese assistance, the ambassador said it was a shining example of bilateral cooperation. Following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan, he said Tokyo would also extend financial loan for the Delhi-Mumbai freight and industrial corridor projects.

The Japanese ambassador hoped that the assistance would be judiciously utilised for the selected projects and would push economic progress in India.

Japanese companies like Toyota are also expected to benefit from the projects to be implemented with this financial aid.

On the industrial corridor project, he said Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Japan next month in this regard.

At present, 45 projects, with a Japanese loan assistance of Rs 25,768 crore, are being implemented in India, he said, adding that investment by Japanese companies is likely to go up in the near future.