India's G20 Presidency - Calming The World

India's presidency of the G20 comes at a time of global crisis. And that is probably a good thing

- Alokesh Bhattacharyya

ON DECEMBER 7, PRECISELY 200 kites flew above the historic Kumbhalgarh Fort, when the participants of the G20 Sherpas meeting-from the 20 economies of the G20, nine guest countries and 14 international organisations came visiting after finishing three days of marathon meetings 84 km away in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The kites symbolised the 200 meetings that the G20 group of nations would engage in, in 50 cities across India during the country's year-long presidency that started on December 1. As Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa, noted during his opening remarks on December 4:

“This is a unique forum of both developed world and emerging economies, so we need to build approaches to benefit the world on key global issues.”

Indeed, the mix of 19 countries and the European Union (see chart) brings greater hope that this group could generate some real outcomes. “G20’s significance lies in its diversity of nations being grouped together as against, say, G7, which is a grouping of developed economies. G20 gives a voice to the Global South (regions within Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania), and member nations together account for more than 60 per cent of the global population,” says Neeraj Bansal, Partner at KPMG in India. “Thereby, the group is in a more effective position to implement financial inclusion and ensure inclusive global growth.”

At the head of a group that represents around 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and over 75 per cent of global trade, India will steer the 200 meetings in multiple challenge areas through various working groups of ministers, secretaries, central bank governors, international organisations, along with several engagement groups involving parliamentarians, think tanks, women, youth, labour, businesses and researchers of all these countries.