The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reduced India's growth forecast for FY27 to 6.4 per cent, citing the potential impact of higher energy prices offsetting the country's economic resilience. Despite this, India remains among the fastest-growing major economies.
India will oppose the World Bank funding to Pakistan next month, arguing that Islamabad has used such funds in the past to procure arms and ammunitions. India previously lobbied against the IMF extending a USD 2.3 billion assistance to Pakistan earlier this month, presenting evidence of Pakistan's misuse of funds for military purposes. India feels that Pakistan has failed to act on terror emanating from its territory and has been diverting funds from multilateral agencies to buy arms and ammunition.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised down India's GDP growth forecast for fiscal year 2026-27 (FY27) to 6.6 per cent from an earlier 6.9 per cent, primarily attributing the change to elevated energy prices stemming from the Middle East conflict. Despite this moderation, India is still expected to remain the world's fastest-growing major economy.
The World Bank on Wednesday lowered India's growth forecast for the current fiscal by 4 percentage points to 6.3 per cent amid global economic weakness and policy uncertainty. In its previous estimate, the World Bank had projected India's growth at 6.7 per cent for the fiscal year 2025-26.
The Sri Lankan government attributes the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, citing increased costs for essential imports like gas, fertiliser, and oil.
Kaushik Basu, till recently the chief economic adviser of the government of India, who created a political firestorm in April when he said here on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings that no economic reforms were likely in India before 2014 when parliamentary elections are due, has been appointed the World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President.
"India did a self-assessment (by the Committee on Financial Sector Assessment, or CFSA) of its financial sector in 2009. This has given us the confidence to get our financial sector evaluated by international financial institutions like IMF and the World Bank. We have voluntarily sought a full-fledged Financial Sector Assessment Programme," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the second International Finance Conference at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank heads want their shareholders' consensus before working to rebuild Iraq, but some countries worry the United States is trying to use the multilateral lenders to cut out the United Nations.
Contradicting the International Monetary Fund, which does not want India and other countries to use any of its foreign exchange reserves for building infrastructure
The annual conference of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund where India was represented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has reached a record Rs 314 lakh crore in transaction value in FY26, representing more than a 4,000-fold increase since inception.
According to the finance minister, India was compliant with most of the internationally accepted standards in banking, securities markets and insurance sector.
The World Bank on Tuesday raised the growth forecast for the Indian economy to 7 per cent for the current fiscal year on the back of recovery in agri sector and rural demand. World Bank had in June projected India to grow at 6.6 per cent for FY24. According to the World Bank Report released on Tuesday, India's growth continues to be strong despite a challenging global environment.
The World Bank and The International Monetary Fund concluded their annual spring meeting here by increasing the voting rights of India, China and Brazil, among others, thus giving them more say in the institutions' functioning.
The eight-day long annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which began in Dubai on Wednesday, would intensively discuss employment creation, private sector development and financial sector reforms.
In a world fractured by uncertainty, India stands out for its policy consistency, paired with sustained ambition, points out Pritam Banerjee.
Ashok Lahiri, a distinguished economist with experience in government, the private sector, and electoral politics, has been appointed as the new Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, tasked with strengthening India's reform trajectory and policy-making.
At the World Bank Banga will be replacing David Malpass, a former Trump treasury official, reports axios.com. Malpass had already announced that he will resign by July, months ahead of his term expired. "Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history," President Biden said in a statement. Banga, 63, currently serves as vice chairman at General Atlantic.
India emerged reasonably well from 2025. But now, the oil shock and war-related supply disruptions have again driven funds out of India and significantly weakened the rupee, points out Ajay Chhibber.
The race for the top position at the Bank is really heating up.
Pakistan's skewed foreign reserves got a major boost after Saudi Arabia pledged an additional $3 billion in deposits while extending its existing $5 billion facility for a further three years.
Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga is poised to become the next President of the World Bank after the nomination period closed and no country proposed an alternate candidate for the prestigious post. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history." The World Bank on Wednesday closed a month-long window for nominations for its next president, with no alternatives announced to 63-year-old Banga.
Meera Shankar, Indian Ambassador to the United States, informed that India has convened a ministerial meeting in September in New Delhi to see how we can bring the Doha Round back on track and as a follow up to that meeting experts were expected to meet in October in Geneva.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today criticised multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank saying "they are not immune to cognitive capture".
The World Bank has appointed Indermit Gill, an Indian national, chief economist and senior vice-president for development economics at the multilateral development bank. "Indermit Gill brings to this role a combination of leadership, invaluable expertise and practical experience working with country governments on macroeconomic imbalances, growth, poverty, institutions, conflict, and climate change," World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. His appointment will be effective September 1, 2022.
The downgraded World Bank forecast follows a similar move by the International Monetary Fund, which cut its growth forecasts two months ago
Glimpses from around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Ajay Banga was on Wednesday appointed the next president of the World Bank, becoming the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution which said it looks forward to working with him at a time when it's tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries. "The executive directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as president of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023," the bank said in a press statement. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga, 63, to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history."
Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party reiterated its promise to scrap the liquor ban in Bihar if elected, planning to use the revenue to secure loans from international financial institutions.
The Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2025-26, up from 6.5 per cent in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of better performance of manufacturing and services sectors, as per the government data released on Wednesday.
The opening ceremony was held in China's financial capital.
The World Bank has announced that it will stop all its programmes in Russia and Belarus with "immediate effect" in response to Moscow's military operations in Ukraine and "hostilities" against the people of the war-torn country. On February 24, Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine, three days after Moscow recognised Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities. The decision comes as a large number of countries, organisations and businesses are severing ties and have imposed sanctions on Russia over the country's invasion of Ukraine, and with Belarus for its support and cooperation with Moscow.
For India, much is at stake: Crucial energy supplies traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of its 10 million citizens living and working in West Asia -- who send generous remittances home -- and its major trade links with the region.
