INDIA'S G20 MOMENT

As infrastructure, tourism, MICE market get a fillip, India Inc. senses G20 presidency as an opportunity to showcase the country as a business and investment hub

WHEN PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi asked former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to take over as G20 Sherpa, after India assumed presidency of the bloc, his message was clear: that “this was a great opportunity for India -- an opportunity to emerge as a global leader through driving consensus on critical issues facing the world”.

With the global economy facing uncertainties and headwinds, in addition to geo-political tensions, and the spectre of another wave of Covid, the significance of a bloc like G20 becomes much more than what it is often perceived to be -- a global ideation lab.

G20 accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of global trade, and 60 per cent of global population. It aspires to bring together the developed and developing world, and drive global consensus. Some perceive the G20 as “a counterbalance to G7” (G20 include all G7 members), while some also like to believe that India “should use its G20 presidency to play an ideal mediator between the West and the non-Western world”.

Among important takeaways from past presidencies were the creation of the Financial Stability Board, and suspension of debt repayment for low-income countries.

With India as the fastest-growing economy, also acknowledged as the bright spot in the world, the year-long presidency presents it an opportunity to drive a consensus on major macroeconomic issues facing the world that have a significant bearing on the Indian economy and businesses as well.