US President Biden has nominated Indian-American executive Ajay Banga to head World Bank. Biden said Banga is uniquely equipped 'to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history'
Born in Pune, Ajay Banga did BA in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, and a PGP in Management from the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad
In 2016, the Government of India awarded Ajay Banga the fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri. He was given the honour for his contribution to the trade and industry field
Ajay Banga was president and CEO at MasterCard, where he served for 12 years. Before this, he was CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific. Banga began his career at Nestle and then spent two years at PepsiCo
In a statement shared by the White House, US President Joe Biden said Banga has spent more than three decades building and managing successful global firms that create jobs and bring investment to developing economies
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Ajay Banga's experience at MasterCard and his work to deploy private capital into climate solutions would help him achieve the bank's objectives of eliminating extreme poverty
US President Joe Biden said Banga has critical experience mobilising public-private resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change
Joe Biden also said that the Indian-American executive has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its agenda to reduce poverty