The second Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting under India’s G20 Presidency in Bengaluru will discuss road to policy for crypto assets, a symposium of digital public infrastructure, and enhancement of cross-border payment arrangements. These are the main agendas that will be discussed on then second day. The meeting began on Wednesday.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurated and addressed the inaugural session of the meeting on Wednesday, as reported by news agency ANI.
Under the Indian Presidency, the First G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting, was also held in Bengaluru during December 13-14, 2022.
The deputies' meet will be followed by the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, scheduled to be held during February 24-25 in the same city. This meeting will be jointly chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das.
According to an official release, the meeting will be spread over three sessions, covering issues such as strengthening multilateral development banks to address shared global challenges of the 21st century, financing for resilient, inclusive, and sustainable ‘cities of tomorrow’, leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for advancing financial inclusion and productivity gains.
The sessions will also cover issues related to the global economy, global health, and international taxation, and discussions in the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting are intended to provide a clear mandate for the various work streams of the G20 Finance Track in 2023.
Jeremy Hunt, UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, will also arrive in Bengaluru on Thursday to attend the meet, and with a declared mission to enhance the India-UK economic partnership.
On his first visit overseas since taking charge at the UK Treasury, Hunt will meet with his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman, and senior business leaders and tech CEOs of the country to explore collaboration opportunities. His office said the tour aims at strengthening the already productive India-UK economic relationship and deepen ties with a rising "economic superpower" to increase new investments and jobs in the United Kingdom.
"I want the UK to be the world's next Silicon Valley – this is an ambition within reach thanks to our status as a global financial powerhouse and home to world class universities and research institutions," Hunt said, on the eve of his India visit. “We already have a USD1 trillion tech industry, but we want to go further to create jobs and wealth across the UK. To help us get there, we need to deepen investment connections with like-minded countries around the world – starting with our Indian friends who are fast becoming an economic superpower in their own right," he added.
Meanwhile, the RBI on Tuesday said that inbound travellers from G20 countries arriving at Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru international airports would be able to use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for merchant transactions. According to the statement issued by the central bank, eligible travellers would be issued Prepaid Payment Instruments wallets linked to UPI for making payments at merchant outlets.
Eligible travellers would be issued Prepaid Payment Instruments wallets linked to UPI for making payments at merchant outlets, the RBI said.