CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said the state will be implementing several schemes with additional funding of USD 410 million from World Bank through loans. He said this after inaugurating the Bank’s expanded Global Business Centre in Taramani in Chennai which is now its largest office outside Washington.
Stalin said the funds would support a range of important schemes, including WE-SAFE, a new initiative focused on women’s employment and safety, the Tamil Nadu Sustainably Harnessing Ocean Resources and Blue Economy (TN-SHORE) project and the second phase of the Tamil Nadu Pudhu Vazhvu project, aimed at rural development and poverty reduction.
He said seven major programmes with World Bank’s funding of a total of USD 1.12 billion is currently under implementation, which act as an example of long, sustained collaboration. He views the state’s relationship with World Bank as extending far beyond conventional financial support, the CM said.
“This is not just about loans — it is a partnership in technology, policy-making, and knowledge,” he noted.
Stressing on the need for World Bank’s support in Tamil Nadu becoming a USD 1 trillion economy by 2030, measures to address climate change, and achieve Sustainable Development Goals, Stalin, however, said there are also some challenges involved.
Pointing out that the interest rate for loans for developmental schemes currently remain at 6% to 7%, he expressed hope that World Bank will offer novel, transferable loans in the future for the investments for socio-economic development.
The upgraded World Bank facility in Chennai will house more than 1,500 employees and serve 130 bank offices in 189 countries. Originally launched in 2001 with just 70 staff, the centre has grown into a critical global operations hub, offering services in finance, IT, procurement, risk management, and analytics.
Calling Chennai the institution’s “second headquarters”, World Bank Managing Director Shenggen Zhang praised Tamil Nadu’s governance and economic trajectory. “Of the USD 18 billion in World Bank projects active in India, nearly USD 1 billion is concentrated in Tamil Nadu —our largest sub-national partner globally,” Zhang said.
Union Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, a former World Bank employee and Tamil Nadu cadre bureaucrat, reflected on the state’s evolving development trajectory. World Bank India Country Director Auguste Tano Kouamé, MPs Thamizhachi Thangapandian and Kanimozhi NVN Somu, and senior bureaucrats were present.