World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Friday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed funding for the changing needs of the country.
“I had the opportunity this morning to speak to the Prime Minister (about) how fully committed I am in trying to get India more financial resources from the World Bank Group,” he told reporters here on Friday.
At present, the multilateral lending agency is working on more than $22 billion of projects in the country, including $3.6 billion loan from its private sector arm IFC.
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Mr. Zoellick said his four-day visit was to understand the priorities of the country and to “how we (World Bank) will adapt our support to try to meet India’s changing needs“.
“We have already expanded our efforts to India but there is lots more we could do here with both the public and the private sector and the money will be very well invested,” he said, adding that even their expanded efforts is modest in front of the challenges facing the country.
“So, what I have discussed with various ministers and also with the Prime Minister is how we would like to work with India to try to figure out how we can leverage some of these fundings more effectively with other sources,” he said.
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During his visit, Mr. Zoellick announced a support of $one billion for helping clean the Ganges. Earlier, the Finance Ministry said the World Bank is likely to triple its lending to the country to $7 billion this year.