The World Bank now sees that a ‘one size fits all’ policy in terms of lending does not hold good for countries like India, said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry and MoS for Finance and Corporate Affairs, here on Saturday.
Speaking after releasing the book ‘Reflective Shadows: Political Economy of World Bank Lending to India’, written by Nagesh Prabhu, Deputy Editor, The Hindu , Bengaluru, Ms. Sitharaman said the mixed results to sectoral and structural loan programmes to India over the past six decades have proved that an indigenously developed model of growth is most suited to a country of the size and complexity of India.
“India has witnessed a healthy transition from a centralised command structure to allow the States to adopt flexible policies and decide their own priorities, without yielding to external pressures from international lending agencies, including the World Bank,” she said.
“Today, India is an economy strong and dynamic enough to stand up and say this is what we want. You do it for us because we still need that assistance but on these terms,” she said, adding that the States and regions in the country have different needs and distinct priorities. “There is growing realisation that one size does not fit all,” she said.
R.S. Deshpande, director of the Centre for Development Studies at PES University, Bengaluru, and former director of ISEC, Bengaluru, in his review of the book, said it covers the different stages of World Bank lending to India over the years by providing a historical overview as well as the pitfalls and achievements.
