Acknowledging steps being taken by India for sustainable and inclusive growth as well as support to global economy, the G20 has praised the initiatives in the country for promoting ease of doing business, startup funding and labour reforms.
In its Hamburg Action Plan, adopted at the G20 Summit of leaders from the worlds 20 largest economies, the group also noted that “in the financial sector, India is popularising a number of derivative instruments in exchanges or electronic trading platforms” as part of measures to enhance resilience of its economy.
The G20 (or G-20 or Group of Twenty) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. Currently, these are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union. Founded in 1999, the G20 aims to discuss policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
It further said India is facilitating external commercial borrowings (ECBs) by startups in order to encourage innovation and promote ease of doing business, as part of the efforts being taken by the G20 members this year for maintaining momentum on structural reforms and sustainable growth.
On steps being taken by G20 countries for promoting inclusive growth this year, the Action Plan said India is introducing labour market reforms to provide security to workers, increase female participation in the workforce and make doing business easier in the country.
The acknowledgement from the G20 Summit, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among other world leaders, assumes significance in the wake of India trying hard to improve its global ranking for ease of doing business.
The World Bank ranked the country at a low 130th position last year, an improvement of just one position from the previous year.
The country has implemented a spate of reforms in the recent months in areas like insolvency, taxation and starting a business and expects the rankings to improve substantially.
“Weak productivity growth, income inequality and ageing populations represent challenges to growth in the longer term,” the G20 Action Plan noted.
It included new policy actions to tackle challenges in economies, focusing on initiatives that foster inclusive growth, enhancing resilience and further the G20 efforts to implement structural reforms.
It also drew attention to the fact that how malicious use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could be the cause of disruption in financial services.
On taxation, it said the G20 will continue to work for a globally fair and modern international tax system and welcome international cooperation on pro-growth tax policies.
It also called on all jurisdictions to sign and ratify the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.