What will India's G20 presidency focus on?

India takes over the presidency of the group in December. To live up to the potential of this opportunity, it must choose a policy direction to focus on continuity, incorporate green and digital transitions, and recognise the realities of a post-pandemic world

- Samir Saran Jhanvi Tripathi

India's presidency of the G20 grouping next year - arguably the sole remaining effective forum for global governance presents an enormous opportunity to accelerate sustainable growth within India, in the emerging world, and beyond.

For India's presidency to live up to this potential, it must recognise the constraints of the grouping and the crises from the pandemic to the Ukraine war - that it must confront. But there should also be a clear understanding of the levers that a G20 president has to affect global policy action.

Next year, the troika of the preceding, current, and succeeding presidents will be three developing countries: Indonesia, India, and Brazil. This fortuitous alignment must inform India's strategy as it designs its G20 agenda.

Three broad principles should underline India’s planning. First, it must recognise the value of the emerging-world troika and choose policy directions that emphasise continuity. Second, it must incorporate the concerns of its dual development transitions — green and digital — into the G20’s agenda. And third, it must recognise the realities of the post-pandemic world and prioritise action on those sectors that have, since 2020, been revealed to be under-capitalised.