India expects the World Bank to extend more financial assistance to help the country achieve higher economic growth and fight poverty, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today.
"We see an important role for the WB for knowledge and experience it can bring from elsewhere in the world, along with long term development finance," Mukherjee said at a meeting with World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The bank's $21.9 billion-portfolio in the country covers 77 active investment projects.
As of today, India is the largest IDA (International Development Association) and the third largest IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) borrower from the bank, which is headquartered at Washington.
Mukherjee and Okonjo-Iweala discussed options as to how the Bank could better support India's long-term growth, including bringing in co-financing, using Bank resources to pilot new and innovative approaches.
Appreciating New Delhi's deft handling of the economic crisis, Okonjo-Iweala said India helped anchor the world economy during the recent global financial crisis
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"It has today emerged as one of the poles of economic growth in the world and has returned to high levels of growth domestically," she said.
She said that governments in developing countries are keen to learn from India's experience with public policy, social and development programmes, and social accountability models and tools.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is in India for four days, will visit health and livelihood projects in Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai to see the country's rapid urbanisation.