NEW DELHI, July 19 (Reuters) – India has an opportunity to capitalize on efforts by global companies to build factories outside China, the new World Bank president said on Wednesday, as companies seek to diversify their supply chains.
His comments follow recent investment announcements by US companies, including chipmaker Micron Technology, in India and come as the United States seeks a strong counterbalance to China in Asia amid rising tensions in ties.
In recent years, many companies have adopted a “China plus one” strategy to build new manufacturing units outside the People’s Republic.
India has a window of three to five years to seize this opportunity to attract investment, said Ajay Banga, a former Mastercard chief executive who became head of the World Bank last month.
“I think India’s opportunity now is to take advantage of the ‘China plus one’ opportunity. This opportunity will not remain open for 10 years,” Banga told reporters in New Delhi during his first official visit to the country.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his first state visit to the United States last month, which coincided with a surge of investment. advertisements by American companies in India.
Banga said India’s growth has been dampened by domestic consumption in the face of a global slowdown.
He also met with India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the G20 bloc, which India currently holds the presidency of.
“There is more downside risk in terms of a slowdown in the global economy early next year,” he said after the meeting.
The World Bank chief also called for private capital investment to help global efforts to finance renewable energy. The lender estimates that $1 trillion will be required by 2030 in developing nations for the green power transition to help meet net-zero targets.
“The facts remain that we will need different forms of concessional capital. We will also need different forms of capital from multilateral banks and government capital and philanthropic capital to take early risk positions or help blend financing materialize,” Banga said.
Reporting by Nikunj Ohri; Written by Shivam Patel; Edited by Sharon Singleton, William Maclean
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.