The World Bank and India announce a new Country Partnership Framework

Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Photo credit: KRISZTIAN BOCSI

This was announced when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met World Bank Group President Ajay Banga here. Acknowledging that CPF aligns with the vision of Viksit Bharat, Sitharaman said: “Leveraging public resources with private capital, creating more jobs in rural and urban India and enriching projects with the Bank Group’s global expertise will be critical to achieving sustainable impact, both at speed and at scale.” She also stated that India looks forward to the rollout of the CPF over the next five years and the sustainable impact it would lead to.

The call for India is one of the key drivers of global growth today, Banga said: “Our strategic partnership aims to help India grow even faster on its path to Viksit Bharat in 204. Creating more jobs is at the heart of our work. This partnership brings together financing, reforms and private sector investment to transform growth into opportunity for millions of Indians.”

In a statement, the multilateral agency said its global employment strategy rests on three pillars: investing in critical infrastructure – both physical and human, strengthening a business-friendly environment through predictable laws, rules and regulations, and deploying risk management tools to help scale private investment. This approach focuses on five sectors that generate locally relevant jobs on a large scale: infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism and value-added manufacturing.

“The new strategic partnership between India and the World Bank Group applies and supports this global jobs strategy in India with $8 billion to $10 billion in annual financing over the next five years, leveraging the Bank Group’s full range of tools and expertise, to create jobs and mobilize private sector capital at scale,” the report said.

Furthermore, the partnership prioritizes private sector-led job creation by improving skills, removing barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises and expanding opportunities – especially for youth and women. It focuses on four strategic outcomes. These include increasing rural prosperity and resilience, supporting urban transformation and liveable cities, investing in people and strengthening energy security, core infrastructure and resilience.

The statement also noted that implementation of the new partnership framework will begin immediately, including through ongoing projects. One such project supports the transformation of skills and employability of Pradhan Mantri through enhanced ITIs. This will provide an $830 million loan to work with the private sector to improve India’s network of industrial training institutions and help more than a million young people – especially young women – gain job-ready skills. Another example is the Maharashtra Project on Resilient Agriculture (Phase II). This $490 million project aims to improve crop productivity and strengthen resilience by applying digital technology to precision farming practices.

Published on January 30, 2026