WASHINGTON: During his visit to the US, Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel 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 held at the World Bank in Washington. He briefed the World Bank on the development and progress of GIFT City.
CM stated that the Government of Gujarat is ready to embrace AI and is committed to its rapid adoption across key sectors, including administration, education, health and agriculture.
The meeting also focused on the use of AI for development. CM highlighted that AI is more than just technology—it can be a powerful tool for driving development and accelerating India’s growth. Predictive AI and similar technologies can help improve development outcomes.
CM said that Gujarat is working to turn this potential into tangible results by expanding the use of AI beyond the IT sector to government administration, education, health, agriculture and public services.
Emphasising Gujarat’s strong financial discipline, CM urged World Bank officials to explore possibilities for concessional financing for development-oriented projects in the State.
He further stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Gujarat has built a strong tradition of balancing financial discipline with development. CM was confident that the World Bank would consider extending special financing benefits for development projects to states that maintain fiscal discipline.
During the meeting with the World Bank, CM outlined to the participants that the ecosystem for attracting global capital to India through GIFT City is rapidly developing.
He further added that the Government of Gujarat is working to develop GIFT City in its next phase not just as an International Financial Services Centre, but as an integrated global ecosystem for finance, technology, fintech, AI, data and innovation.
CM also provided detailed insights about the well-developed ecosystem in GIFT City for banking, capital markets, fund management, insurance, aircraft leasing, ship leasing and other global financial services.
Gujarat Chief Secretary Shri M. K. Das, MD and Group CEO GIFT City Shri 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 Shri Krishna Srinivasan, and Senior Advisor to the World Bank Executive Director representing India Shri Hemang Jani and senior officials were present at the high-level round table meeting.
