Consider the following statements : Most international agencies which find Development Programme in India on intergovernmental bilateral agreements, mainly provide:
1. Technical assistance
2. Soft loans which are required to be paid back with interest
3. Grants, not required to be paid back
4. Food assistance to be paid back
(a) 2 and 4 are correct
(b) 1, 2 and 3 are correct
(c) 1, 2 and 4 are correct
(d) 3 and 4 are correct
(b) A soft loan is a loan with a below-market rate of interest. This is also known as soft financing. Sometimes soft loans include other concessions to borrowers, such as long repayment periods or interest holidays. Soft loans are usually provided by to projects which are socially worthwhile. The World Bank and other development institutions provide soft loans to developing countries. Loans to Delhi metro by Japan is a soft loan.