World Bank lending to India to hit $4 bn

World Bank on Monday said its lending in India is estimated to increase from its current annual average of $2.5 billion to an average of $4 billion over the next two-three years, with special focus on strengthening infrastructure, supporting lagging states and scaling up service delivery.

Announcing the appointment of Isabel Guerrero as the World Bank's new country director of India, its regional vice president for South Asia, Praful C Patel said, "An expanded portfolio will also mean wider challenges in improving implementation performance, quality of expenditure and monitoring and evaluation among others."

World Banks' lending stood at $2.9 billion during 2004-05, $1.4 billion next year, and is estimated to touch $3 billion this fiscal, he said.

World Bank is currently engaged in 63 projects worth about $12.7 billion in India. India is the largest beneficiary of World Bank's cross lending arm IBA and the fourth-largest borrower of IBRD.