A man of Indian origin and an American business leader Ajay Banga is appointed as the President of the World Bank for a tenure of five years. He became the first Indian Born nominee to handle this position.
For the office US President Joe Biden had nominated Banga’s name this year in February end. At the age of 63, he was the only contestant being considered to take over the charge as the World Bank Chief after David Malpass who was leaving his office. According to reports, Arvind Banga will take the seat as the World Bank President starting this June.
World Bank shareholders were highly impressed by Banga and referred to him as a “true change maker”. Banga will be responsible to fasten the existing reforms at the global development bank. The development bank gives loans for hundreds of billions of dollars to developing countries but still wants to increase its lending to address global challenges like Global Warming and climate change.
Banga has served as a former CEO of Mastercard and retired from the position in December 2021. He has dedicatedly worked for 12 years for Mastercard Inc. to bring 1 billion people and 50 million micro- and small businesses into the digital economy by the end of the year 2025 was Banga’s target. While nominating, Biden had considered the experiences of Banga of optimum utilization of resources in tackling world challenges like climate change at the organizational level.
Banga is a Pune-born Indian and an Economics graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He holds a degree in MBA as well from IIM Ahmedabad. He began his career with Nestle, in India and has worked for Citigroup in India as well as Malaysia
Banga had been appointed in different roles in his long career of 30 years. He was in Mastercard and had also served as a board member of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods, and Dow Inc. Banga was appointed as a CEO of Mastercard soon after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. He has tripled the amount of the revenue generation of the payment processor through his hard work. We could now see the dominance of online shopping.
Banga who became a US citizen in 2007 currently serves as Vice Chairman at the esteemed private equity firm General Atlantic. Moreover, he also holds the prestigious position of Co-Chairman at the Partnership for Central America further cementing his reputation as a visionary leader.
With his vast experience Banga has been instrumental in mobilizing public-private and non-profit resources in the North Central American region. He has even collaborated with US Vice President Kamala Harris on this front, demonstrating his commitment to driving change and making a positive impact.
Arvind Banga was also a co-founder of the Cyber Readiness Institute, Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York, and also was a member of President Barack Obama’s Commission to work on the enhancement of National Cybersecurity. He has also been the Ex-member of the Advisory Committee of the US President in the Department of Trade Policy and Negotiations.
In 2016 the President of India honored Banga with the Padma Shri Award. He was given different recognitions since then like Empower Ethnic Minority Role Model, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and was ranked among the 10 best-performing CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business Review.
Banga was also mentioned in Fortune’s list of the World’s Leading Businesspersons and the Business Council for International Understanding has given him the Leadership Award. The Economic Times has recognized Banga as the “ Global Indian of the Year” for corporate excellence in the year 2019.Since the World Bank was founded it is always run by Americans, Banga will be the first in Indian origin.