Fact Check: India was always a participative member of G20
Is it not a matter of pride and protecting national interests if India, which always was left in obscurity at the G20 meetings, was given the gavel?
A video of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi being congratulated by the President of America on chairing the G20 summit for the year 2023 is being shared virally with a claim that India, a country which was neglected every time, got the presidency of the summit next year.
The claim in Telugu goes as "G20 సదస్సులో ఒకప్పుడు ఓ మూలన కూర్చోబెట్టిన మన దేశాన్ని ఇప్పుడు ఏకంగా ఆ సదస్సుకు అధ్యక్షత వహించే స్థానం ఇచ్చారంటే ఇది కదా దేశ గౌరవం కాపాడటం అంటే"
When translated claims "Is it not a matter of pride and protecting national interests if India, which always was left in obscurity at the G20 meetings, was given the gavel?"
Fact check:
The claim that India never occupied a prominent place in the G20 summit is MISLEADING.
G-20 or Group of Twenty is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important aspects of economic and financial assistance among the member countries. It was created in response to the financial crisis that arose in a number of emerging economies in the 1990s and after recognising that some of these countries were not adequately represented in the global economic discussion and governance.
In December 1999, the finance ministers and Central Bank Governors of advanced and emerging countries of systemic importance met for the first time in Berlin, Germany, for an informal dialogue on key issues affecting global economic stability. Since then, the finance ministers and Central Bank Governors had met annually. India hosted a meeting of G20 finance ministers and Central Bank Governors in 2002. In 2008, G20 was raised to the summit level to address the global financial and economic crisis at that time.
Seven G20 summits have been held so far. The first summit was hosted by the US President in Washington in November 2008 to develop a coordinated response to the global financial crisis.
https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/
The presidency of the G20 rotates every year among its members, and the country that holds the presidency works in coordination with its predecessor and successor, also known as the Troika, to ensure the continuity of the agenda.
The G20 has no permanent secretariat. Agenda and work coordination is completed by G20 leaders' personal representatives, known as sherpas, together with finance ministers and Governors of Central Banks.
https://www.g20.org/about-the-
India was supposed to chair the G20 summit in 2022 but India and Indonesia swapped the G20 presidency term with each other. Though no official reason was available for this change, the decision seemed consensual.
Indian PM Narendra Modi unveiled the logo, theme, and website of India's G20 presidency on November 16, 2022. Details can be seen in the link here.
According to the Indian Express, ever since the G20 was recast as an annual apex-level summit in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, developing countries chaired it only on four occasions — Mexico in 2012, China in 2016, Argentina in 2018, and now, Indonesia in 2022. India's presidency marks the fifth such occasion. In a historic first for developing countries, the G20 troika after December 1 will comprise the past, the incoming, and the next G20 presidencies, i.e., Indonesia, India, and Brazil.
Therefore, India has always been a participative member of G20. The claim is misleading.