Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Banga on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Asheville, discussing India’s growth, global economic outlook and development priorities.

Sitharaman’s meeting with Georgieva focused on the global economic outlook, India’s evolving growth trajectory and the structural shifts underway in the Indian economy.

According to a post by the Ministry of Finance on ‘X’, Georgieva appreciated India’s strong economic performance and track record, while noting the strength built by the Indian economy. The discussions also underlined the need to appropriately reflect India’s structural transformation in macroeconomic assessments and growth projections.

Sitharaman highlighted India’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and stressed the importance of robust, evidence-based surveillance frameworks that adequately capture structural changes in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

The two sides also discussed the IMF’s capacity development initiatives, including efforts to strengthen institutional capacity, macroeconomic policymaking and statistical systems in EMDEs. Both leaders emphasised continued India-IMF engagement to enhance analytical capabilities, support sound macroeconomic policies and contribute to global economic resilience, the ministry said.

In her separate meeting with World Bank President Ajay Banga, Sitharaman appreciated the World Bank Group’s continued engagement with India and acknowledged the speedy processing of $1.5 billion in Development Policy Financing (DPF).

She also appreciated the International Finance Corporation’s support to micro, small and medium enterprises through SIDBI, which was processed in record time and has had a positive impact on the MSME sector, according to the ministry’s post on ‘X’.

Sitharaman and Banga discussed further strengthening the India-World Bank Group partnership, including a larger role for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) in India. The proposal seeks to deepen corporate, infrastructure and municipal bond markets through systematic use of guarantees and greater mobilisation of private capital.

The discussions also covered a sector-based, programmatic approach to credit enhancement for infrastructure.