Next 4-5 years key for India to fill supply chain gaps: Ajay Banga, President, World Bank

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India has got a lot of things right,World Bank president Ajay Banga said in an interview with ET, adding that he’s more optimistic about the country economically than he was 20-30 years ago. Banga, who was in Delhi for the G20 summit, spoke about the changing vision of the World Bank, climate finance, the Delhi Declaration consensus and India's trajectory.Edited excerpts:

How do you view the outcome of the G20 summit?
I think the fact that the leaders all came together showed the willingness to compromise on different parts of a declaration, and brought a way to put it together, was pretty good. And I think a few days ago, nobody would have given any chance for that to come together.

And I think, India, but also all the G20 leaders, deserve some credit for that. To me, that’s a big deal. Inside that there's a great deal of conversation about the importance of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), which selfishly I find very useful.

Although it's hard work — it's like having a bull's eye on your forehead, you have to deliver.

And then the second big thing that came out clearly, is the importance of digital public infrastructure, on which of course India and a lot of other countries have done a good job.

The World Bank has published a good report on the importance of digital infrastructure to create the right governance and access. I believe in that. There is work on green and the idea of going green with everything.

There was a lot of conversation about sustainable agriculture.

I think there's progress in the G20 on a lot of topics, and I would pick the fact that there was a declaration. I would, of course, pick the fact about the conversation around MDBs. But I would also pick the fact about the importance of