G20 — Formation, Structure, India's Presidency & Recent Summits

Formation and Evolution of the G20

The Group of Twenty (G20) was formally established on 26 September 1999 at the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting in Washington, D.C., with an inaugural ministerial meeting on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin. Its creation was a direct response to the 1997–98 Asian Financial Crisis, which revealed that the G7 alone could not manage the interconnected global economy.

Elevation to Leaders' Summit (2008): The G20 operated only at the Finance Ministers level until the 2008 Global Financial Crisis triggered its elevation. The first G20 Leaders' Summit was held in Washington, D.C. on 14–15 November 2008 — the G20's transformation from a technocratic forum to the premier platform for international economic cooperation.

Composition

The G20 comprises 19 individual countries + 2 regional blocs = 21 members:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States + European Union (founding member) + African Union (admitted September 2023)

African Union (AU) Inclusion: At the New Delhi Summit on 9 September 2023, the AU was formally admitted as the 21st permanent member — the first expansion since the G20's founding in 1999. The AU represents 55 African nations and approximately 1.4 billion people.

The G20 accounts for approximately:

• 85% of global GDP
• 75% of global trade
• Two-thirds of the world's population

G20 Structure

The G20 operates through two parallel tracks:

Finance Track (Sherpa Track)

• Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings (quarterly)
• Managed by Sherpas (personal representatives of Leaders)
• Working Groups: Sustainable Finance, International Financial Architecture, Global Health, Digital Economy, etc.

Leaders Track

• Annual Leaders' Summit — the apex body

Engagement Groups (Civil Society Parallel Tracks)

Troika System

The G20 Presidency rotates among members under a regional rotation system. The Troika consists of the current, past, and incoming Presidencies working together for continuity:

India's G20 Presidency 2023

India held the G20 Presidency from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023.

Theme: "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth, One Family, One Future"

Scale: Over 200 meetings across 60 cities — the largest multilateral exercise India has ever organised.

New Delhi Declaration (9–10 September 2023)

The Leaders' Summit adopted the New Delhi Declaration — an 83-paragraph consensus document, with 100% consensus across all 21 members including on Ukraine conflict language (a significant diplomatic feat given Russia-West tensions).

Key outcomes:

IMEC — Current Status (2025)

The India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor was the flagship connectivity initiative of India's G20 Presidency, but its implementation has been complicated:

• The October 2023 Hamas-Israel war froze Saudi-Israeli normalisation talks that were the political bedrock of the corridor
• Physical rail segments between Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel remain largely on paper
• Diplomatically alive: All signatories remain committed; Modi-Trump White House meeting (2025) reaffirmed IMEC's importance
• February 2025: European Commission President Von der Leyen and PM Modi reaffirmed IMEC during her India visit
• Key challenge: The corridor requires Saudi-Israeli normalisation, different technical rail standards across nations, and coordinated investment

Brazil G20 Presidency 2024

Summit: Rio de Janeiro, 18–19 November 2024 — the 19th G20 Leaders' Summit.

Three Priorities of Brazil's Presidency:

1. Social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty
2. Sustainable development, energy transitions, and climate action
3. Reform of global governance institutions

Key outcomes of the Rio Summit:

South Africa G20 Presidency 2025

Summit: Johannesburg Expo Centre, 22–23 November 2025, the 20th G20 Leaders' Summit and the first G20 summit on African soil.

Theme: "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability"

Four presidency priorities (the headings under which the Leaders' Declaration is arranged, and the four listed by MEA Secretary (ER) Sudhakar Dalela at his Johannesburg briefing, 23 Nov 2025):

1. Strengthen disaster resilience and response
2. Ensure debt sustainability for low-income countries (the declaration's heading adds "cost of capital")
3. Mobilise finance for just energy transitions
4. Harness critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development

Johannesburg Declaration — Key Outcomes

The summit adopted a 122-paragraph Leaders' Declaration. Argentina did not subscribe to it: its foreign ministry said the declaration had been deemed adopted without the consensus of all members, and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno cited a breakdown of the consensus rules and the text's treatment of the Middle East (statements reported 22–24 Nov 2025). The United States boycotted the summit, sending no delegation to it, and several other leaders stayed away, among them those of Argentina, China, Indonesia and Mexico (European Parliament briefing, 27 Nov 2025). The declaration was adopted at the opening of the summit rather than, as is usual, at its close: President Ramaphosa's opening remarks on 22 Nov 2025 already referred to it as adopted, saying it "sends an important signal to the world that multilateralism can and does deliver". The declaration closes with a commitment to work under the US presidency in 2026.

India at Johannesburg

PM Modi attended the summit (visit of 21–23 Nov 2025) and used the opening day to propose six G20 initiatives:

• G20 Global Traditional Knowledge Repository
• G20 Africa Skills Multiplier, aimed at a pool of one million certified trainers for Africa
• G20 Global Healthcare Response Team
• G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug-Terror Nexus
• G20 Open Satellite Data Partnership
• G20 Critical Minerals Circularity Initiative

On 23 Nov he also joined an IBSA (India–Brazil–South Africa) Leaders' Meeting hosted by President Ramaphosa with President Lula on the summit sidelines.

Handover to the USA

Because the US was not present, South Africa could not pass the presidency to it in person at the closing session. On 25 Nov 2025 the instruments of the G20 Presidency were handed to a US Embassy official at the headquarters of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). On 26 Nov President Trump said South Africa would not be invited to the 2026 summit in Miami; South Africa replied the same night that the decision was regrettable and that it is a G20 member in its own right (Presidency/DIRCO statement, 26 Nov 2025; All India Radio, 27 Nov 2025). No walk-back is on record.

USA G20 Presidency 2026

The United States assumed the G20 presidency on 1 December 2025 (US State Department). The Leaders' Summit is scheduled for 14–15 December 2026 at Trump National Doral, Miami, in the year of the US's 250th anniversary; as of 22 Sep 2026 it has not been held.

Three core themes:

1. Unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens
2. Unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains
3. Pioneering new technologies and innovations

Four working groups (official G20 site, accessed 22 Sep 2026): the Trade Working Group, the Growth and Deregulation Working Group, the Innovation Working Group and the Energy Abundance Working Group. Climate change and development do not figure in the themes or the working groups. Debt survives only narrowly, as "enhancing debt transparency and facilitating debt restructuring when necessary" in the Growth and Deregulation group's remit.

A slimmer, reshaped table:

• The first Sherpa meeting of the US year (Washington, 15–16 Dec 2025) was attended by 17 member countries besides the US host, plus the AU and EU. South Africa was not on the attendance list.
• Poland attended as "the only full guest participant" of the US host year, and appears on the official "State Participants" list for G20 Miami 2026, which leaves South Africa out. The official site also lists a wider set of invited countries, among them Finland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, the UAE and Uzbekistan.
• At the World Economic Forum in Davos on 22 Jan 2026, South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed that South Africa would step back from its G20 engagements during the US presidency, calling it a "temporary setback".

US presidency calendar (official G20 calendar, as of 22 Sep 2026):

G20 vs G7 vs BRICS — Comparison

India at G7 Outreach: Kananaskis 2025 and Evian 2026

India is not a G7 member, but its regular presence at G7 outreach sessions is a useful contrast with its full membership of the G20.

• Kananaskis, Canada (51st G7 Summit, 15–17 Jun 2025): PM Modi attended as a guest and spoke on energy security and AI, noting that AI is itself an energy-intensive technology. Summit documents included the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan and the Kananaskis Wildfire Charter; President Trump left after the 16 June dinner. At Modi's bilateral with Canadian PM Mark Carney, India and Canada agreed to restore High Commissioners in each other's capitals, a step towards repairing a strained relationship.
• Evian, France (15–17 Jun 2026): India took part as a Partner Country. Modi made a two-day visit, spoke at the outreach session "Forging New Partnerships and Rebuilding International Solidarity" and at a session on inclusive growth, and held bilaterals with Trump, German Chancellor Merz, Carney, UK PM Starmer and the UAE President. With Trump he stressed freedom of navigation, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and the safety of Indian seafarers, and said India–US trade talks were progressing smoothly. Summit documents included a G7 Leaders' Declaration on Securing Supply Chains for Critical Minerals (17 Jun 2026).

G7 outreach gives India a leaders'-level setting with the US, Europe and Canada at a time when the US G20 year has set development issues aside.

Global Minimum Corporate Tax (Pillar Two) — G20 Context

The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) introduced the 15% global minimum corporate tax (Pillar Two) for multinationals with revenue above €750 million.

• Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) came into effect 1 January 2024 in jurisdictions that enacted it
• 37 jurisdictions had a Qualified Income Inclusion Rule or a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax actually applying to in-scope multinationals from their 2024 fiscal year (OECD, Support for Central GloBE Information Return Filing and Exchange, 18 May 2026, revised 6 July 2026). That is the count of rules operating with OECD-recognised qualified status, which is narrower than the count of jurisdictions that have merely enacted, drafted or announced legislation
• India's status: Has participated in the Inclusive Framework but has not yet enacted domestic GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) legislation

The live development for 2026 is the American carve-out. On 5 January 2026 the Inclusive Framework approved a "side-by-side" package giving effect to the G7's political understanding of June 2025: a group headquartered in a jurisdiction recognised as having a Qualified Side-by-Side Regime is excluded from the Income Inclusion Rule and the Undertaxed Profits Rule on both its foreign and its domestic profits, and is taxed instead under its home country's own rules. The United States is so far the only jurisdiction entered on that record, for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 January 2026. Domestic top-up taxes are deliberately left untouched: a QDMTT still applies to every group, including one claiming the safe harbour, so a country that levies its own 15% top-up tax keeps the revenue arising on its own territory. For India, which has not legislated either rule, the practical effect is that the case for a domestic top-up tax has strengthened rather than weakened, because the QDMTT is now the one instrument the carve-out does not reach.

India's Strategic Interests in the G20

1. Global South representation: India used its Presidency to amplify voices of developing nations — AU admission, Voice of the Global South, debt restructuring for African/Sri Lankan economies
2. Digital governance: Exporting the India Stack (DPI) model as a global public good
3. Climate finance: Pushing developed nations to honour $100 billion/year pledge and establish a loss-and-damage fund
4. Reform of multilateralism: Advocating for UNSC expansion, IMF quota reform, and WTO reform
5. Connectivity: IMEC as an alternative to China's BRI

Cross-paper relevance

• GS2 (primary) — India's G20 Presidency 2023; AU as permanent G20 member; Voice of Global South; G20 New Delhi Declaration; G20 Brazil 2024; IMEC; digital public infrastructure (DPI) as G20 outcome
• GS3 — Global debt architecture; climate finance pledges; global minimum corporate tax; digital economy governance; IMEC trade route
• GS4 (Ethics) — India's responsibility as G20 host to represent Global South; ethics of global financial architecture dominated by the West
• Essay — "India's G20 Presidency: from Vishwabandhu to Vishwaguru?"; "Global governance in the age of multipolarity: can the G20 deliver?"

What Changed in 2025–26

A summit the incoming presidency did not attend. Johannesburg in November 2025 was the first G20 leaders' meeting held on African soil, and also the first at which the member due to take the chair a week later stayed away altogether. South Africa pressed on regardless, securing the declaration at the opening session rather than the close so that the text was safe before the meeting could unravel, and accepting that one member would not subscribe to it. The result cuts both ways for the forum's credibility: the G20 still produced a consensus document under real pressure, but the country that had to carry its work forward had disowned the meeting that produced it.

India worked the room rather than the rift. PM Modi used the opening day to put a fresh slate of initiatives on the table, every one of them an extension of the agenda India set in 2023: Global South development, Africa, traditional knowledge, counter-terrorism. The Critical Minerals Circularity proposal sits directly alongside the Critical Minerals Framework that South Africa secured, which is how a former chair keeps its own priorities alive inside somebody else's presidency. The IBSA leaders' meeting on the sidelines on 23 November showed the three democracies of the 2023–2025 Troika still acting as a coalition inside the wider grouping.

The agenda narrowed sharply in 2026. The handover of 25 November 2025 was made by delivering the instruments to an embassy official rather than at a closing ceremony, and the next day the incoming host said South Africa would not be invited to Miami; no walk-back has followed. Development and climate, the two pillars of India's own presidency, do not appear in the US themes or working groups, and debt survives only as a transparency-and-restructuring line inside a deregulation group. India therefore enters the 2026 cycle with a forum whose agenda has moved away from what it built, and with a stake in keeping the grouping intact and inclusive until the agenda swings back.

A host choosing its guests tests the forum's premise. The G20 works by consensus among members on an equal footing, and a presidency is meant to be a custodian rather than an owner. When one of the three Troika members steps back from the very year it exists to help steer, the continuity mechanism is the first thing to break, and the African Union is left as Africa's only voice at the table.

What to watch through 2026: whether South Africa returns to the table before the Miami summit; whether the UK, as incoming president for 2027, restores development and climate to the agenda; and whether critical minerals, which now run through the G7's Evian declaration of June 2026 as well as the G20's own framework, become the issue on which the two groupings converge rather than compete.

PYQ Relevance

• (GS2 Mains 2023): "Assess India's G20 Presidency 2023 and evaluate whether it successfully represented the interests of the Global South." (15 marks)
• (Prelims 2024 pattern): G20 founding year, AU inclusion, Troika system, New Delhi Declaration specifics
• (GS2 Mains 2022): "Discuss the relevance of the G20 as a forum for global economic governance."

Exam Strategy

Non-negotiable Prelims facts:

• G20 founded: 26 September 1999 (ministerial meeting); Leaders' Summit from 2008
• 21 members = 19 countries + EU + AU
• AU admitted: 9 September 2023 (New Delhi Summit) — first expansion in G20's history
• India's Presidency: 1 Dec 2022 – 30 Nov 2023, theme: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
• GBA launched: 9 September 2023 alongside New Delhi Declaration
• Brazil 2024: Rio Summit; Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (148 members)
• South Africa 2025: Johannesburg Expo Centre, 22–23 Nov; theme "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability"; first G20 on African soil; 122-para declaration adopted at the opening; US boycott; four priorities (disaster resilience, debt sustainability, just energy transition finance, critical minerals); Mission 300 (World Bank–AfDB, welcomed); 25th IMF Executive Board chair for Sub-Saharan Africa; Nelson Mandela Bay Target (NEET, further 5% by 2030, 2024 base); revised Brisbane-eThekwini Goal (gender gap, 25% by 2030, 2012 base); Ubuntu Legacy Initiative; India's six initiatives
• USA 2026: US presidency from 1 December 2025; Leaders' Summit scheduled 14–15 December 2026, Trump National Doral, Miami (not yet held as of 22 Sep 2026); three themes (deregulation, affordable and secure energy supply chains, new technologies); four working groups incl. the Energy Abundance Working Group; Poland the only full guest; South Africa stepped back for the US year; Troika = South Africa + USA + UK
• G7 outreach: Kananaskis, Canada (15–17 Jun 2025, India a guest); Evian, France (15–17 Jun 2026, India a Partner Country)

Mains angles:

• G20 as the premier forum for global economic governance — why it matters more than G7 or UN bodies
• India's presidency success: DPI, AU inclusion, 100% consensus on Ukraine language
• IMEC: connectivity ambition vs. geopolitical reality; contrast with BRI
• Limitations of G20: non-binding decisions, structural inequality between members, absence of enforcement mechanism
• G20 effectiveness under stress: the US boycott of Johannesburg and Argentina's non-subscription to the declaration
• The presidency as custodian rather than owner: a host deciding which member to invite, and South Africa's step-back from the US year
• Global Minimum Tax: 15% Pillar Two — implications for India's competitiveness as a destination for MNC profits

Cross-link: For current G20 developments under the US 2026 Presidency and BRICS India 2026, follow Ujiyari.com.

Key Terms

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Definition: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 interlinked global goals with 169 targets, adopted by all 193 UN member states in September 2015 as the core of the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", providing a shared blueprint to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity by 2030.
• Context: The SDGs were adopted on 25 September 2015 through UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/70/1 ("Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development") and took effect in January 2016. They succeeded the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000–2015), expanding the agenda from a narrow set of development targets for poorer nations to a universal framework that integrates economic, social and environmental dimensions for all countries. In India, NITI Aayog is the nodal agency for monitoring SDG implementation and publishes the SDG India Index to track state and UT progress.
• UPSC Relevance: This is a foundational GS2 (international institutions, governance) and GS3 (sustainable development, environment) concept that UPSC tests repeatedly. Prelims commonly probes factual recall — number of goals (17) and targets (169), year of adoption (2015), the predecessor MDGs, and the nodal agency (NITI Aayog). Mains and Essay use the SDGs as an analytical frame for poverty, climate action, gender equality and cooperative federalism, often linked to the SDG India Index. Note: no PYQ ID is cited here, as none has been independently verified for this exact term — treat the above as the established testing pattern.

Gujral Doctrine vs Modi Doctrine

• Definition: The Gujral Doctrine is a set of five principles for India's South Asia policy articulated by I.K. Gujral in 1996, built on non-reciprocal goodwill towards smaller neighbours; the "Modi Doctrine" is an informal umbrella label for the Narendra Modi government's foreign-policy framework since 2014, organised around "Neighbourhood First", "Act East" and SAGAR. Together they represent two distinct phases of India's neighbourhood and regional strategy.
• Context: I.K. Gujral first set out his principles in a speech at Chatham House, London, in September 1996, while serving as External Affairs Minister; the term "Gujral Doctrine" was later coined by journalist Bhabani Sen Gupta. Nearly two decades later, the Modi government rebranded the 1990s "Look East" approach into "Act East" (announced at the East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on 13 November 2014) and launched the SAGAR maritime vision (Mauritius, 12 March 2015). Unlike the Gujral Doctrine, "Modi Doctrine" is not a single codified text but an analytical label applied by commentators to a cluster of initiatives.
• UPSC Relevance: This pairing is a foundational concept for GS2 (India and its neighbourhood; bilateral and regional groupings) and is best handled as a comparative analytical theme rather than rote recall. UPSC tends to test it through Mains questions on the evolution of India's neighbourhood policy, the shift from idealism/non-reciprocity to a more assertive, connectivity- and security-driven approach, and how doctrines respond to China's regional footprint. No verified PYQ exists for this exact paired term; treat it as underpinning the broader question family on India's foreign-policy doctrines, SAARC/BIMSTEC dynamics, and the Indian Ocean Region.

Sources & Verification

South Africa 2025 (Johannesburg summit)

• G20 Research Group: G20 Johannesburg Leaders' Declaration (22 Nov 2025)
• G20 Research Group: President Ramaphosa, opening remarks at the Leaders' Summit (22 Nov 2025)
• G20 Research Group: President Ramaphosa, remarks at the IBSA Leaders' Meeting (23 Nov 2025)
• G20 Research Group: G20 Critical Minerals Framework (1 Dec 2025)
• European Parliament Think Tank: G20 Johannesburg summit briefing (27 Nov 2025)
• All India Radio: MEA Secretary Sudhakar Dalela highlights India's key contributions at G20 Summit, Johannesburg (23 Nov 2025)
• All India Radio: PM Modi unveils six global development initiatives at G20 Summit opening in Johannesburg (23 Nov 2025)
• SAnews (Government of South Africa): Commission to probe access to capital for low- and middle-income countries (24 Dec 2024)
• G20 Research Group: G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders' Declaration (18 Nov 2024)
• MercoPress: G20 — Argentina does not endorse final document (24 Nov 2025)

USA 2026 presidency

• DIRCO (South Africa): President Ramaphosa notes US statement on South Africa's G20 participation (26 Nov 2025)
• All India Radio: South Africa deems Trump's decision to exclude it from G20 regrettable (27 Nov 2025)
• US Department of State: United States Assumes Presidency of the Group of 20 (1 Dec 2025)
• US Department of State: United States Hosts First G20 Sherpa Meeting (18 Dec 2025)
• Africanews: South Africa to step aside from G20 during United States presidency (23 Jan 2026)
• G20 USA 2026: About the G20, State Participants (accessed 22 Sep 2026)
• G20 USA 2026: Working Groups (accessed 22 Sep 2026)
• G20 USA 2026: Events Calendar (accessed 22 Sep 2026)

Global minimum tax (Pillar Two)

• OECD: Global Minimum Tax — Support for Central GloBE Information Return Filing and Exchange (2024 Reporting Fiscal Year), 18 May 2026, revised 6 Jul 2026 — "Thirty-seven jurisdictions have implemented a Qualified Income Inclusion Rule (QIIR) and / or a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT)"
• OECD: Administrative Guidance on the GloBE Model Rules (Pillar Two) — Central Record for Purposes of the Global Minimum Tax, approved 5 Jan 2026 — lists the United States as the only Qualified SbS Regime, effective for fiscal years commencing on or after 1 Jan 2026
• OECD: Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (Pillar Two), Side-by-Side Package, approved 5 Jan 2026
• OECD: FAQs on the GloBE Model Rules, April 2026 — eligibility criteria for the SbS and UPE Safe Harbours, and QDMTTs unaffected

G7 outreach

• G7 Research Group: 2025 Kananaskis Summit documents and participants
• All India Radio: PM Modi highlights concerns, aspirations of Global South at G7 Summit (18 Jun 2025)
• G7 Research Group: 2026 Evian Summit documents and participants
• All India Radio: PM Modi reaches Evian to participate in G7 Summit (16 Jun 2026)
• All India Radio: PM Modi meets US President on sidelines of G7 Summit in Evian (17 Jun 2026)