New Delhi: The United States’ nominee for the post of World Bank president, Indian-American Ajay Banga, comes with vast experience of working in the banking and financial space, and has demonstrated his eagerness to work in the developmental space, including in areas that benefit women.
Banga is the first India-born nominee for the post and, if selected, will be the first India-born person to hold the office.
The White House announced Thursday that US President Joe Biden had nominated Banga for the World Bank position on the basis of his “extensive experience leading successful organisations in developing countries and forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change”.
Banga certainly has had a successful tenure at the helm of global companies, especially during his time as CEO at Mastercard from July 2010 until 31 December, 2020.
During this time, Mastercard reportedly grew to become the 21st most valuable company in the world, up from the 256th position before Banga took over. In addition, the company provided its shareholders returns of 1,581 per cent over this period, nearly five times that of the S&P 500 Index in the same time.
Banga currently serves as the vice-chairman of US equity firm General Atlantic, but his roots are firmly based in India.
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‘A unique perspective’
The son of an army man, Banga was born in the Khadki cantonment in Pune, but moved around the country a fair bit during his early years of schooling.
Banga graduated in economics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi in 1979 as part of an illustrious batch, many of whom have gone on to make a name for themselves at the national and international level. These include Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the current Chief Justice of India, Sir Ivan Menezes, the CEO of international beverage company Diageo, Justice Sanjay Kaul, a Supreme Court judge, Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, among others.
Following his graduation, Banga went on to study management at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
“Raised in India, Ajay has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda to reduce poverty and expand prosperity,” Biden said in his statement.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris, in her statement on Banga’s nomination issued soon after the White House announcement, said that since her election, she and Banga had “worked closely on a new model of public-private partnership” aimed at addressing the causes of migration in Northern Central America.
“Through that partnership, nearly 50 businesses and organisations have mobilised to generate more than $4.2 billion in commitments that will create opportunity and hope for people in the region,” Harris said.
Banga’s contributions to business have not been missed in India either, with the country conferring on him its fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, in 2016.
Even going by Banga’s previous commitments while he was CEO of Mastercard, it is clear that a developmental agenda was always of importance to him.
Under Banga, Mastercard in 2019 teamed up with US government-backed Women’s Global Development and Prosperity institute to enhance women’s empowerment through financial inclusion, access to capital, and ability to work.
“I think the business case for including and empowering women has been made up from so many different studies that it puzzles me why the conversation still runs on,” Banga had said at the time.
“You can add to world GDP, there’s the fact that women make up 80 per cent of purchasing decisions, the fact that women will be controlling $70 trillion of global wealth, which is 32 per cent of global wealth by 2025,” he added. “There’s the fact that you can add $28 trillion to the system by empowering women to the same extent in the workforce as men are today.”
Banga’s nomination follows the premature resignation of previous World Bank president David Malpass, who put in his papers after completing a little more than four years of his five-year term. Malpass will step down on June 30.
It is important to note that although the World Bank is still accepting nominations for the post of its president, the convention since its founding has been that the US chooses the bank’s head, as its largest shareholder, while a European nominee is chosen to lead the International Monetary Fund.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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