WB chief to meet Jaitley tomorrow, Modi on Wednesday

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will tomorrow meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and thereafter Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to review key development priorities
Kim, who reached India today, visited the state of Tamil Nadu. "Tamil Nadu continues to be a source of development knowledge for projects across the world," Kim said.
Kim would meet the Finance Minister tomorrow and the Prime Minister day after, a source said.
The World Bank group feels urbanisation can improve lives as 10 million people move into towns and cities every year in India.
It also feels power utilities in India are not run on commercial lines, leading to poor performance.

"The historic mandate from the people of India represents a tremendous opportunity to unlock India's growth potential and take advantage of its immense demographic dividend, said Kim in a statement by the World Bank.

"I look forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Jaitley to understand their development priorities, and determine how the financial and knowledge resources of the World Bank Group can be best allocated to support them," he added.
In Tamil Nadu Kim visited Bank-supported project sites to see the challenges of India's rural-urban transformation, and how, empowered with the right skills, rural women in the state are taking advantage of emerging urban employment opportunities.

World Bank Group's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has successfully mobilised its USD 1 billion offshore rupee bond program, aimed at strengthening India's capital markets and attracting foreign investments, the statement said.
India is home to the largest operations of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
World Bank Group assistance to India between July 2013 and June 2014 amounted to USD 6.4 billion. This included USD 2 billion from IBRD, USD 3.1 billion from IDA, and USD 100 million from the Clean Technology Fund that the World Bank Group administers. During that period, the World Bank Group's private sector arm, IFC, committed USD 1.2 billion in India.