How the World Bank plans to help India

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 said.

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.

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 a tremendous amount 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 funding more effectively with other sources," he said.

During his visit, Zoellick announced a support of $1 billion for helping clean the Ganges river. Earlier, the Finance Ministry said the World Bank is likely to triple its lending to the country to $7 billion this year.

India seeks $1 bn loan from WB

India has sent a proposal to the World Bank seeking a loan up to $1 billion to fund its urban development projects, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

"The ministry of urban development has taken initiatives to get World Bank assistance for Urban Sector projects," Minister of state Saugata Roy stated. Roy was asked whether the government proposes to seek financial assistance from the World Bank to fund its urban projects under Jawaharlala Nehru national Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM). He said the Planning Commission has conveyed its approval to the Preliminary Project Report with suggestions relating "inter-alia to the scope of urban services to be covered, eligibility of Urban Local Bodies and focus on capacity building".