Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India wants to enhance its influence in the world as one in every six persons is Indian and the world cannot ignore India’s economy.

Union Minister Sitharaman said that no country, whether the US which is far away or China which is very close cannot ignore India.

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While participating in a panel discussion on the ‘Bretton Woods Institutions at 80: Priorities for the Next Decade’, organised by the Centre for Global Development on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Annual Meetings 2024 in Washington, D.C., the Union Minister said that India has always backed multilateral institutions and did not at any time seek to undermine any multilateral institution.

She said that expectations pinned on multilateral institutions are fissured away as no solutions are coming out of them.

When asked how nations like India and other big emerging markets step up and play a role that helps to take ownership of that process and drive the reform forward, Union Minister Sitharaman said, “Yes, absolutely possible. And on this, I just want to again start from where a thought of my Prime Minister came in and this is well thought through. He once said India’s priority is not to impose its dominance. In the sense we have the biggest democracy, we have in the world, and the largest population but to enhance its influence. Now why do we want to have our influence enhanced? It’s only because of the fact that today one in every six people in the world is an Indian and you just cannot ignore our economy and how it is growing, that’s the second.”

“And third, the skilled manpower which today is in India and also everywhere else running large corporations which are for running institutions which are in large countries, developed countries. But yet that particular point that Larry mentioned, that in today’s world, the course which developed countries took, starting from producing textiles, cycles, bicycles and something else, and reaching development, is no longer available. It is going to be something else,” she added.

Stressing that no country can ignore India, the Union Finance Minister said, “Are we in a position to define that path? In that, one flag post which I want to draw your attention to about India and its role is leading on technology, servicing through technology, leveraging technology and that is where when you look at Indians everywhere you are saying that they are the ones before sitting and readily saying yes we will give you the systems which can run complex corporate whether it is a refining system, oil refining system, whether it is multilateral banking system or anything else. So, you really can’t ignore and also the geopolitical neighbourhood in which we live. No country, the US which is very far away from us or China which is very close to us, cannot ignore us.”

Expressing India’s support for multilateral institutions, the Union Minister said, “I think we have followed policies of strategic and peaceful multilateralism. The multilateralism of which you want us to speak about. India has always stood in favour of multilateral institutions. We didn’t want any time undermining of any multilateral institution. But progressively we see the hope and the expectations which are pinned on multilateral institutions are fissured away because we think no solutions are coming out of them.”

“So again, Larry said, these institutions now are not offering an alternative pathway. That is where one of my points is, the core competencies of these institutions, in that they look at so many different economies, look at the dynamism with which some economies are growing and some which are getting stunted, the information base that they have, they should be the first ones to share the information and they should be the first ones to also suggest without imposing,” she added.

Other panellists during the discussions included Emeritus President and Charles W Eliot University Professor, Harvard University, Lawrence H Summers, Spain’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Carlos Cuerpo and Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania A. Al Mashat.

Union Minister Sitharaman stressed that multilateral institutions should strengthen themselves for the global good.

She said that shaping the future is an ambitious goal and called for the involvement of Bretton Woods institutions in it.

She said, “In one of my earlier conversations with Larry, he voiced the concern, saying how would institutions like IMF and the World Bank go about telling an economy to a country that your economy is in a wretched position, you can’t do anything about it. They can’t, they cannot and they need not.”

“But yet, they can, with a wealth of information and experience and the manpower, the kind of human resources they have, share in time information with countries and also lead to building the strength of institutions, not tear down institutions, but strengthen up institutions for the global good, which I would think is very necessary to strengthen multilateralism. We are in favour of multilateralism. We of course spoke about a lot of things about …, LiFE, which is a mission in India, LiFE being the lifestyle for the environment, adapt to certain kinds of living and so on,” she added.

Stressing the Bretton Woods institutions’ role in shaping the future, the Union Finance Minister said, “Shaping the future is one very ambitious nice goal and we need to follow that and we need to have Bretton Woods institutions work on that rather than reacting to future developments. Unfortunately, in the last few decades, we see them reacting to future developments with the strength that they have. And I think, therefore, information sharing is one thing.”

The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the US in July 1944. Their aims were to help rebuild the shattered postwar economy and promote international economic cooperation.

In her remarks, Union Minister Sitharaman said, “India, of course, has International Solar Alliance, Biofuel Alliance, and we’re talking about disaster-resilient infrastructure and all these need money. All these need help for countries which are in smaller economies, island economies, which need them. So, through the digital public infrastructure that we have publicly funded and taken it up to different countries, we are spreading that attention and I think these are areas in which India will contribute.”

Nirmala Sitharaman arrived in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, welcomed her in Washington, DC.

Before visiting Washington, DC, Sitharaman was in New York.

In a post on X, the Ministry of Finance said, “Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs @nsitharaman is welcomed at Washington DC by India’s Ambassador to USA, @AmbVMKwatra after her arrival from New York, today evening.”