India to push the narrative of developing countries and showcase its growth at G20: Amitabh Kant

As India gears up to host world leaders at the next G20 Summit, its agenda will be focused on pushing for inclusive growth, to pitch India as an investment destination and to showcase India’s achievements.

India gets the baton of G20 presidency in a very crucial year - just a year before the general elections and also the year when economies around the world will be grappling with the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war, increased inflation and recessionary fears. As India stands as an outlier, its agenda at the meet will be to push the narrative of the developing countries.

“For years, India had been responding to agendas set by the developed world. PM wants G20 to be action oriented, reform oriented, inclusive, to be the voice of the developing world,” Amitabh Kant, India’s Sherpa to the G20, told Moneycontrol in an exclusive conversation.

India will be hosting 200 events across 55 cities, apart from business and civil society engagements. The events will be held in every state and Union Territory of India. “The Prime Minister has spoken to Chief Ministers and states are sprucing up their infrastructure.”

India wants to use this opportunity showcase its digital transformation story – over 80 percent Indians have bank accounts as compared to about 50 percent in 2014.

“This is a moment of crisis - because of Covid, 200 million people have gone below the poverty line, 75 million have lost jobs, there is a huge setback because of which supply chains were being disrupted — but every crisis is an opportunity. This is India’s opportunity to take progressive measures. We want to bring the India narrative; what India has done in digital public goods. India has carried out massive transformations which we want to showcase to the world,” said Kant.

Geo-politically, there is a flux globally and the world needs to rethink its supply chains, added Kant. Nearly 40 percent of chips supplied to the world come from one country – sectors from defence, electronics, automobiles, consumer goods depend on Taiwan, making local businesses extremely vulnerable. He said that India is well poised to take advantage of the China plus strategy that companies are adopting. It is imperative for the world to build alternate destinations for manufacturing.

“We have a huge opportunity for Business 20. Their single point agenda should be to build India as a very integral part of the global supply chain during this year and ensure that many American companies look at India very seriously,” he added.

You can catch the full conversation here