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The G20: origin, members and how its presidency works

By CAShorts DeskPublished Sources: MEA G20 brief; PIB; US State Department; g20.org (US presidency); G20 Research Group, University of Toronto; The Hindu

Why in news: The US, holding the 2026 G20 presidency, hosts the Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta on 30-31 October 2026, ahead of the Miami Leaders' Summit.

The G20: origin, members and how its presidency works
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Group of Twenty (G20) is a forum of 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union that coordinates economic policy among major advanced and emerging economies. It began in 1999 as a finance ministers' forum and has no charter or secretariat. The US, holding the 2026 presidency, hosts its Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta on 30-31 October.

Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; GS2 · Groupings & Agreements; GS2 · International Institutions

Why this matters for UPSC

The G20 falls under GS2 international groupings and institutions. Prelims asks its origin as a finance ministers' forum, its members, the troika and the Sherpa Track; GS2 Mains, India's 2023 presidency, the African Union's admission and the Global South's voice.

In short

The G20 is an informal forum of 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union that coordinates economic policy among major economies, with no charter or secretariat.

How the G20 worksRotatingpresidencyPrevious,current, nextpresidenciesSherpa TrackFinance TrackThematic workinggroups

The G20 works only through consensus and continuity; India should work with each year's troika and the African Union to keep development on its agenda.

Why it matters

A farmer buying fertiliser or a family paying for cooking gas feels the decisions of the G20 without knowing it. When food, fuel and fertiliser prices jumped, this was where the largest economies talked about supply chains and about giving poorer, indebted countries time to repay. For India, a seat here means its own concerns, such as digital public infrastructure, climate finance and the debts of developing countries, can shape the rules that the IMF and the World Bank follow. Because the forum seeks consensus and has no permanent office, each host decides what gets discussed; a narrow agenda in one year can quietly drop issues that matter to the Global South.

Prelims pointers

  • G20 ministerial meetings: the IMF Managing Director and the World Bank President take part ex officio in meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors.
  • Financial Stability Board: formed by expanding and renaming the Financial Stability Forum after the 2008 crisis, as a supervisory body for the global financial system.
  • Basel III norms: stricter capital rules for banks, adopted at the G20 summit in Seoul in 2010, which also agreed IMF quota and voting reform.
  • Agricultural Market Information System: an inter-agency platform for food market transparency, agreed at the 2011 Cannes summit.
  • Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan and automatic exchange of tax information: agreed at the 2013 St Petersburg summit.
  • G20 Compact with Africa: launched at the 2017 Hamburg summit under Germany's presidency.
  • Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for Debt Treatments: endorsed under Saudi Arabia's 2020 presidency for debt-ridden countries.
  • Regular G20 participants: the IMF, World Bank, UN, OECD, WTO, ILO and Financial Stability Board, with the chairs of regional bodies such as ASEAN.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Group of Twenty (G20), consider the following statements:

1. It was set up in 1999 on the initiative of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors.

2. The first G20 Leaders' Summit was held in Washington in 2008, after the global financial crisis.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 only
  3. (c) Both 1 and 2
  4. (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2. The G20 began as a ministers' forum in 1999 and met at leaders' level from 2008.

Statement 1: correct. On 25 September 1999 the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors announced a wider dialogue with systemically important economies; this was the birth of the G20.

Statement 2: correct. The first G20 summit of Heads of State or Government met in Washington in 2008; London followed in 2009.

Eliminate: Statement 1 is the surest, since the G20 is known as a finance ministers' forum from 1999. Out: (b), (d).

Eliminate: Statement 2 holds, as the first leaders' summit was Washington, 2008. Out: (a).

Trap: Outdated fact. A student may think the G20 was a leaders' summit from 1999, or place the first summit in London, which was the 2009 follow-up.

Remember: 1999 ministers' forum; 2008 Washington, first leaders' summit; annual since 2011.

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