ANEW DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM: More Synergies and Less Trade-Offs

INDIA’S PRESIDENCY has come at a decisive moment for the G20. It is no small feat to lead a heterogenous group of countries and draw consensus, especially in a world riddled with interlinked challenges. Against the backdrop of growing climate crisis, challenges to food security and the precarious stability of the global economy, 2023 calls for a presidency with paramount leadership skills to shape One Earth. One family. One future. This year, India’s focus on LiFE, resource efficiency and circular economy, and accelerating progress on the SDGs (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals), among others, reflect an unwavering commitment to tackling the planet’s imminent threats. At the same time, as an emerging economy, India has clearly laid out its commitment to enabling an agile and flexible macroeconomic policy and sustainable and resilient growth while addressing the debt distress and related concerns of LMICs (low- and middleincome countries).

- Amit Kapoor and Meenakshi Ajith

Amit Kapoor, Chair, Institute for Competitiveness and lecturer, Stanford University

For an emerging economy in the current tumult of global challenges, these various key areas may seem to be at odds with each other, but India has carefully curated a smart and exciting mix of policies that focus on strengthening the interlinkages between these diverse areas. This comprehensive approach has ushered in a democratic space for countries to find common ground on numerous issues. The synergies between these agendas have been reiterated time and again, but what are these synergies? Most importantly, how does it blend in with not just the G20 but other multilateral commitments and pave the way for India to rewrite existing narratives of growth and development? The membership of key emerging economies, including Brazil, South Africa, Russia, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina and Saudi Arabia, bequeaths a strong incentive and also a responsibility for India to reimagine the development paradigm.

Meenakshi Ajith, researcher at Institute for Competitiveness