NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The New Development Bank (NDB), a group of emerging countries founded by the BRICS Group of Emerging Countries (BRICS), announced on Friday that it will set up a region office in India to finance and monitor infrastructure projects in India and Bangladesh.

NDB President Marcos Troyjo stated that the Indian Regional Office would be very helpful in increasing NDB’s involvement with stakeholders and borrowers.

Gujarat state will have the new regional office.

NDB approved 21 Indian projects so far, totalling $7.1 billion.

While participating by video link in NDB’s seventh annual meeting, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the bank has successfully established itself as an reliable partner for emerging markets.

Brazil, Russia India, China, South Africa and South Africa created the multilateral development bank in 2015. In 2015 they expanded their membership to Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay.

The Shanghai-headquartered lender has signed off on more than 80 projects in the five original member countries. Projects in the five original member countries have an estimated value of $30 billion. The projects are spread across a range of industries, from transportation and water sanitation to clean and renewable energy as well as digital and social infrastructure.