China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has signed a $160 million contract with India to partly fund “24X7 Power for All in Andhra Pradesh Project” in the presence of D.J. Pandian, Vice-President & Chief Investment Officer, AIIB in New Delhi.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The rest of the loan of $240 million will be funded by the World Bank. The project aims to increase the delivery of electricity to customers and to improve the operational efficiency and system reliability in distribution of electricity in selected areas in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

"The total cost of the project is $570 million, out of which $240 million is from World Bank (IBRD) and $160 million from AIIB. The rest will be counterpart funding from state government of Andhra Pradesh," India's Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Last week, the AIIB had announced its first equity investment to India infrastructure projects in India. The bank said its "first equity investment of US$150 million will help to attract much needed private investment capital for infrastructure projects in India".

The Beijing-based $100 billion AIIB started operations just last year and it expects to provide loan to infrastructure projects worth $6-7 billion in the next five years. China is the largest shareholder in the bank, followed by India and Russia. India's share in the bank is 7.5% while Russia has 5.93%.

Till now, AIIB has approved 16 projects in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Oman, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Myanmar worth $2.5 billion; mostly in energy and transport sector projects.