New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Budget presentation in Lok Sabha on Saturday said India will host the G20 Presidency in 2022 and the government has allocated Rs 100 crore for making preparations for this historic occasion, where it will drive global economic agenda.

The Group of 20 nations (G20) is an international grouping consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US. It was conceived as a bloc to create a common platform to bring together the industrialised and developing economies, to have a discussion on international economic and financial stability. With India hosting the G20 Presidency, it is expected to play a crucial role in driving the global economic agenda.

The meeting of world leaders is usually preceded by ministerial meeting of finance and trade ministers, and central bank governors. This meeting designs the economic agenda for the world leaders to discuss. In 2022, India would look to leverage this opportunity to increase its footprints in the global economic agenda.

The G20 is often credited with containing the shift to protectionism in the backdrop of the global financial meltdown in 2008. To counter this economic meltdown, the G20 decided to a three-fold increase in the International Monetary Fund's budget and gave development banks more remit.