India will preside and host the G20, or Group of 20 nations meeting in 2022. G20 provides a unique opportunity for India to transform from rule-taker to rule-maker. Being a host India would set an annual agenda, wielding vast direct and indirect influence on the G20 nations’ economies.
To exploit this opportunity to the full extent, India must address organisational challenges, where the country has an infrastructure, management and intellectual gap.
Organisational Challenges
The organisational challenges before India are:
- G20 summit brings together several global leaders with their attending delegations and independent experts. Since it is a small powerful group it demands good airports, accommodation, conference facilities, and communications infrastructure all year round.
- G20 is tasked with leading and managing the global economic agenda for the year. It cannot be a task of a single ministry or agency. Various ministries and regulators must come together in contributing to the formulation of global financial regulations.
- The logistical requirement for G20 is monumental and unprecedented for India. G20 demands an energetic secretariat to organise over 150 high-level ministerial, sub-ministerial and sub-forum meetings through the year; at least 50 task forces lead scores of meetings including those by sub-forums for think tanks and business, content management, negotiation and feedback processes and developing and executing the year-long agenda.
- India needs to augment its intellectual capacity to be able to deliver inter-disciplinary research on the international monetary system, global financial architecture, global trading system, global climate, energy and sustainability issues.
The global economic framework is largely driven by the West, and increasingly by China neither of which are suitable for an India. G20 presidency has given an opportunity for India to take the lead and give direction to global economic policy framework. If India doesn’t augment its capacity to set the agenda, India would again be reduced to passive rule-taker, not rule-maker or designer of global economic rules.