World Bank Group President on a three-day visit to India

New Delhi, Mar 11 (KNN) World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim is on a three-day visit to India starting today to observe unmediated some of the development challenges India faces and explore opportunities for enhancing its role in reducing poverty at an accelerated pace.
During his visit, Kim will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and representatives of the private sector as well as the civil society to discuss India’s major initiatives to stipulate equitable growth, said a World Bank release.
This will be Kim’s first visit to India after taking over as President of the World Bank Group last July.
“India has vast and valuable development experience and I am eager to learn about its success stories to see how they could provide lessons for other countries,” the World Bank President said according to an official release.
Kim will also visit Lucknow to meet Chief Minister AkhileshYadav and see the development challenges in the state, which is home to the largest number of India’s poor. His village to a village in Uttar Pradesh will give him firsthand information on the realities of rural life that might compel migration to towns and cities.
Thereafter, the WB President will visit Kanpur to experience the challenges in managing increasing urbanization.
 
“I also look forward to the opportunity to find out what the World Bank Group can do to work with India in ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity throughout the country,” he said.
Incidentally, the World Bank President’s visit to India comes at a time when the country is rapidly urbanizing, with 10 million Indians moving each year into towns and cities from the rural areas.  He is aware that a quarter of urban Indians live in slums, with limited access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation, electricity or public transportation.
“India's historic transformation provides a great opportunity to lift millions out of poverty, but it also poses enormous challenges in providing jobs, housing and basic services to people.
“I am here to see how the World Bank Group can support India as it strives to turn its urban centres into clean, liveable cities for its people,” he said.
India, according to the statement, is the largest client of the World Bank Group. Between 2009 and 2013, it lent around USD 25.5 billion to India, including USD 12 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), USD 8.3 billion from the International Development Association (IDA) and a further USD 5.2 billion in investments from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
As of January 2013, the total IBRD and IDA net commitments stood at USD 23.1 billion (IBRD USD 13.2 billion, IDA USD 9.9 billion) across 77 projects. At the end of January 2013, IFC’s portfolio contained 219 projects, amounting to committed and disbursed exposure of USD 4.1 billion. (KNN)