G20

Importance of G20

• G20 provides policy coherence, analysis and practical tools to support growth and development.
• enabling environment for inclusive global growth and development.
• ensuring financial stability, promoting growth and avoiding and managing crises is critical in supporting the opportunities.
• advancement of women in the job market, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, climate change, global health, anti-terrorism and inclusive entrepreneurship
• membership both developed and emerging markets from all continents, making it big enough to be globally representative and the world's most impactful global forum.

Achievements of G20

• Quick deployment of emergency funding during the 2008 global financial crisis.
• Reforms for international financial institutions such as reforms to the international tax system, through the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and implementation of tax transparency standards.
• Improving oversight of national financial institutions.
• Bolstering the quality of financial regulatory bodies in markets whose fiscal and monetary policies have led to crisis
• Amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
• committed to pump more than $5 trillion into the global economy and contribute to the WHO-led COVID-19 solidarity response fund.
• role in the ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, with the WTO estimating it could contribute up to somewhere between 5.4 and 8.7 per cent to global GDP by 2030.
• Global corporate tax 15%
• Cornwall consensus for sustainable development
• Increasing the lending capacity of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and collecting information on the shadow banking system.
• prompt decision making and quick to adapt to new challenges- ability of the Group to engage in meaningful debate, frankly and informally, and a commitment to seek consensus.

Challenges faced by G-20

• lacks an objective framework through which to set goals and measure progress toward them. Its agenda has been fluid, with each host country adding something new to the mix at every annual gathering.
• Every country, which assumes presidency add some issues from their own perspective, like Japan including ageing and society 5.0 (technology-based and human-centered society, concept given by Japanese) in the Osaka Summit.
• exclusivity of its membership has attracted criticism. The group represents a massive share of global economy and its decisions can impact non-member countries
• disproportionate non-representation of African countries.
• Not all resolutions passed at the G20 Summit are fully implemented as only 10% of world countries are included in G20 decision-making,
• authority is also weakened since some major members sometimes fail to fulfil their commitments (e.g., the delay of the IMF reform due to resistance from the U.S. Congress).

Way forward

• continuity of issues taken up in the previous presidencies along with appreciation of new issues in the subsequent presidencies.
• provide the vision to bind all the countries especially the emerging markets like Indonesia, India, Brazil and Mexico which are new actors in global governance to support coordinated actions on major global issues and promote global public goods
• strengthen its ties with the UN to give the Organisation and all of its relevant institutions full agency in promoting development.
• Redoubled efforts are also needed in fields like infrastructure and food security so as to address the North-South imbalance.
• Amid COVID-19 pandemic, G20 role will be critical to build robust global supply chains and strengthen international investment for economic recovery.

India and G20

• founding member of G20 process and has played an active role in proposing new ideas and finding solutions.
• proposals that India made in the previous G20 summits:
• Terrorism: International action on terrorism is needed as the roots of terrorism may be in some other country; the conspiracy could be hatched in some third country, and the actual target maybe another country like India.
• Economic offenders: Dealing with the economic offenders has been emphasized by India as a serious policy challenge for India and other countries in G20. Economic offenders often commit the crime in one country and flee to another to escape the legal process at home
• Global Taxation: taken cognizance and has come up with the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) framework.
• New Digital Technologies: benefits of digital technologies for economic growth and social development are well-known, there are certain issues such as privacy, data security and digital governance which are to be properly understood.