Gujarat pitches AI, GIFT City plans at Chief Minister's US visit, seeks concessional World Bank funding

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, during his visit to the US, presented the state government's vision to develop Gujarat as a global hub for Artificial Intelligence (AI), financial services, advanced technology and global capital at a high-level round-table meeting at the World Bank in Washington.

Patel briefed World Bank officials on the development and progress of GIFT City and said Gujarat is committed to the rapid adoption of AI across key sectors, including administration, education, healthcare and agriculture.

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The meeting also focused on the use of AI as a tool for development. Patel said AI can play an important role in driving development and accelerating India's growth, with predictive AI and similar technologies helping improve development outcomes.

He said Gujarat is working to expand the use of AI beyond the IT sector to areas such as government administration, education, healthcare, agriculture and public services.

Emphasising Gujarat's financial discipline, the Chief Minister urged World Bank officials to explore possibilities for concessional financing for development-oriented projects in the state.

Patel said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat has maintained a strong tradition of balancing financial discipline with development. He expressed confidence that the World Bank would consider extending special financing benefits for development projects to fiscally disciplined states.

During the meeting, Patel also highlighted the growing ecosystem in GIFT City for attracting global capital to India.

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He said the Gujarat government is working to develop GIFT City's next phase not only as an International Financial Services Centre but also as an integrated global ecosystem for finance, technology, fintech, AI, data and innovation.

The Chief Minister also provided details about GIFT City's ecosystem for banking, capital markets, fund management, insurance, aircraft leasing, ship leasing and other global financial services.

Gujarat Chief Secretary M K Das, GIFT City MD and Group CEO Sanjay Kaul, World Bank Vice President for South Asia Johannes Zutt, IFC Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific Riccardo Puliti, MIGA Vice President Junaid Kamal Ahmad, IMF Director of the Asia and Pacific Department Krishna Srinivasan, Senior Advisor to the World Bank Executive Director representing India Hemang Jand other senior officials attended the meeting.