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The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the oldest of the WB institutions which started functioning (1945) in the area of reconstruction of the war-ravaged regions (World War II) and later for the development of the middle-income and credit-worthy poorer economies of the world. Human development was the main focus of the developmental lending with a very low interest rate (1.55 per cent per annum)—the areas of focus being agriculture, irrigation, urban development, healthcare, family welfare, dairy development, etc. It commenced lending for India in 1949.
After the process of reforms started in the World Bank in 2010, India was alloted additional shares in IBRD (now holds 56,739 shares accounting to US
$ 6,844.7 million). With this India emerged as the 7th largest shareholder (up from the 11th position) in IBRD with voting power of 2.91 per cent (up from