The Asian Development Bank said on Friday it will earmark loans up to $2 billion for India this year, with 70 per cent of it going towards infrastructure projects.

"We are earmarking $2 billion in this year for India and 70 per cent of the funds will go for infrastructure projects," ADB's Infrastructure divisions chief, Albab Akanda said here addressing a CII seminar.

The Manila-based multilateral institution has so far extended over $10 billion for around 66 projects till November 2002, he said.

Noting that "need of the country (India) is enormous and growing" with the economy progressing fast, Akanda said the focus areas for funding would include national highways, state roads, inland waterways, power, rural electrification, renewable energy and hydropower.

Elaborating on the road, rail and waterways sectors, he said ADB would focus on the connectivity in states of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and North-East and some of them were progressing well.

On the power sector infrastructure, he said there was a need to strengthen the state electricity boards by bringing in improvements in the technical and financial parameters.

One of the delegates asked the Centre to set up a regulator for the infrastructure sector citing the existence of such a system in the telecom, power, insurance, banking and capital markets.

"The government should consider having a regulatory body for infrastructure," C M Mukhaopadhaya, partner in Amarchand and Mangaldas and Suresh A Shroff and Company, said.

K Venkatesh, general manager (projects development) in Larsen and Toubro said the funds were available in the system for infrastructure financing, but what lacked was the proper legislations.

He said there should be standardised legislation for the whole country.