World Bank offers to take India’s digitisation to rest of the world, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

World Bank President David Malpass has offered to work with India to take its successful digitisation efforts to other countries so that they can also benefit from it, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Speaking to Indian reporters on Saturday during a press conference towards the end of her trip to Washington city where she attended the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Ms. Sitharaman said there was a request extended to India to showcase how Indian people have accepted the deepening digital applications.

“In fact, today, in my meeting with the World Bank President David Malpass, he said that you should now showcase the deepening of digital applications in India and how common people have accepted it,” Ms. Sitharaman said after she met Malpass at the World Bank headquarters here.

He said he will be happy from the World Bank side, to work together with India to be able to take it to the other parts of the world. There is not just the World Bank, but every bilateral that I’ve had people have spoken very highly of India’s achievement on the digital side,” Ms. Sitharaman said in response to a question on the subject.

Referring to her meetings on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, she said there’s certainly a lot of appreciation about India’s digitisation success.

“There’s certainly a lot of appreciation. In fact, with a sense of amazement that India could do it in such a short period, it’s digital applications which have been successful, how people have adapted to it. And the way in which across the board, now digital is panned out, it’s not just payment, it is also health, it’s also education, it’s also looking at health related vaccination…COVIN and so on,” she said.

“So, India stacks are both the point of admiration and the manner in which it has been rapidly developed, But even better, that we were able to spread it and reach a level of saturation and many of them. And that it is kept as a common public good, is also recognised,” Ms. Sitharaman added.

Earlier during her meeting with the World Bank President, the finance minister mentioned that the World Bank has been a valuable partner of the G20 since inception and India looks forward to close collaboration with the World Bank during the upcoming G20 Presidency.

Ms. Sitharaman mentioned that during its Presidency, India would like the G20 to explore the potential for Multilateral Development Banks to enhance Climate Financing through leveraging and intermediating resources.

Impressed by the quick and deep penetration of India’s financial inclusion and digitisation initiatives among the poor, Malpass assured the finance minister of showcasing this to other finance ministers as a way for governments to help their poor leapfrog in these challenging times.