HYDERABAD: An important three-day meeting of G20 that will focus on knowledge and experience sharing for emerging economies of the global south will begin in the city on Saturday, with India set to reaffirm its commitment to share its experience, knowledge, and expertise on the country’s United Payments Interface (UPI) architecture.
“Our goal is to provide our platform to developing countries. Ours is a goodwill offer. How it will be taken forward will be based on consensus among the G-20 members,” Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the chief coordinator, G20 India, told reporters on Friday.
He said the robustness of the Indian UPI system meant that 40 per cent of all global digital financial transactions now take place in the country. “The IMF had said that $37 billion were transferred directly to beneficiaries during the Covid pandemic in the country, proving the UPI system’s ability to deliver quickly and without associated costs,” Shringla said.
The event to be held at HICC, will be the second meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion. The meet is expected take forward the discussions on digital financial inclusion, SME finance and development of Financial Inclusion Action Plan 2023 that will guide the financial inclusion work for 2024-26, Chanchal C. Sarkar, economic adviser for the finance ministry, said.
One important aspect that India is seeking to address through the G20 meeting in the city is the long-term goal of cost cutting in financial transactions, especially among countries that form the global south, and low-income group nations, Shringla said.
He said the Ukraine crisis has shown how an event or happening in one part of the world can cause ripple effects across the globe, just as Covid did. India’s presidency reflects the need of the hour to strengthen existing multilateral agencies, and ensure the success of sustainable development goals which are faltering, Shringla said.
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