World Bank, India Seal $8–10B Growth Pact to Power Jobs and Viksit Bharat

“We welcome the new Country Partnership Framework with the World Bank Group, fully aligned with our Viksit Bharat vision,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India.

The World Bank Group (WBG) and the Government of India today announced a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) aimed at accelerating India’s next phase of growth and advancing its long-term vision of Viksit Bharat—becoming a developed country by 2047.

The five-year framework marks a strategic shift toward private sector–led job creation at scale, backed by $8–10 billion in annual World Bank Group financing, alongside reforms and risk-mitigation tools designed to mobilize private capital across job-rich sectors.

“We welcome the new Country Partnership Framework with the World Bank Group, fully aligned with our Viksit Bharat vision,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India. “Leveraging public funds with private capital, creating jobs across rural and urban India, and drawing on the Bank Group’s global knowledge will be key to achieving sustainable impact at speed and scale.”

Jobs at the Center of India’s Growth Strategy

With around 12 million young people entering India’s labor market each year, job creation sits at the core of the new partnership. The framework applies the World Bank Group’s global jobs strategy—focused on infrastructure, a business-friendly regulatory environment, and risk-management tools—to India’s development priorities.

The strategy targets five sectors with strong potential to generate locally relevant employment at scale:

• Infrastructure and energy

• Agribusiness

• Health care

• Tourism

• Value-added manufacturing

“India is one of the key engines of global growth today,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group. “This partnership brings together financing, reforms, and private sector investment to turn growth into opportunity for millions of Indians.”

Four Strategic Outcomes for Transformational Impact

The new CPF focuses on four interconnected outcomes designed to translate growth into broad-based opportunity:

Boosting rural prosperity and resilienceWith 60 percent of Indians living in rural areas, the partnership supports income diversification beyond agriculture, stronger value chains, improved market access, and better management of scarce water resources.

Supporting urban transformation and livable citiesAs India’s urban population is projected to reach 800 million by 2050, investments in infrastructure, housing, services, innovative financing and integrated planning are positioned as major engines of economic growth.

Investing in people across the life cycleFrom early childhood health and nutrition to education, skills development and responsive health systems, the framework prioritizes smoother school-to-work transitions—especially for youth and women.

Strengthening energy security, infrastructure and resilienceThe partnership aims to scale up renewable energy, e-mobility and frontier technologies such as green hydrogen, while attracting private capital and expertise into core infrastructure.

Immediate Action Through Flagship Projects

Implementation begins immediately through ongoing and new investments, including:

• $830 million to upgrade Industrial Training Institutes under the Pradhan Mantri Skilling initiative, benefiting over one million youth, particularly young women

• $490 million for resilient agriculture in Maharashtra through digital precision farming

• $280 million to strengthen Kerala’s digital health systems

• $750 million via Credila Financial Services to expand higher education financing for 190,000 students

• A programmatic push to scale electric mobility, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and de-risk urban transport investments

A New Model for Development Partnerships

The CPF reflects reforms undertaken by the World Bank Group since 2023 to become faster, simpler and more impact-oriented, many advanced during India’s G20 presidency. It emphasizes results, private capital mobilization, and the strategic use of global knowledge alongside public financing.

India remains the World Bank Group’s largest client, and the new framework will further shift resources toward crowding in private investment while leveraging the Group’s full public and private sector toolkit.

Call to Action: Partner, Invest, Scale

For private investors, state governments, financial institutions and development partners, the new CPF opens a major opportunity to co-invest, innovate and scale solutions that convert India’s growth momentum into jobs, skills and resilient infrastructure.

As India accelerates toward 2047, the success of Viksit Bharat, the partners emphasized, will depend on how quickly ambition is translated into action—and how effectively public and private capital work together to deliver opportunity for all.