The G20 leaders’ summit will take place on 9 and 10 September. Indian Premier Narendra Modi has set out a clear vision for India’s presidency of the G20: One Earth, One Family, One Future. 

The summit comes at a time of increasing confidence in the trajectory of an Indian economy that is now the world’s fifth largest, and the energy of a demographic dividend from a population half of which is under 30. 

The Business 20 (B20) took place alongside the G20 Trade Ministers Summit in August, attended by Kemi Badenoch MP, UK Business and Trade Secretary. She shared her confidence in a growing UK-India partnership and that a comprehensive UK-India Economic Partnership Agreement can be agreed in 2023. 

What does this mean for Chartered Accountants? 

Grant Thornton’s India meets Britain Tracker 2023 shows that Indian investment into the UK is growing, with combined turnover from Indian-owned UK companies already over £50bn. Investment and trade could increase significantly with a free trade agreement in place. Badenoch described the trade deal as the government building a road, down which trade can flow. Developing that trade is the job of business – and Chartered Accountants have a key role to play in facilitating that. 

In support, ICAEW has been ramping up activities in India in 2023. At the invitation of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), we have been members of the B20, which makes business recommendations for government action at the G20 Summit. 

ICAEW is a Network Partner of the B20 and ICAEW’s team in India made recommendations through its membership of the ESG in Business Action Council. During the B20 summit in August, ICAEW spoke at the Confederation of Indian Industry Sustainability Summit and the Economist Impact Forum on globalisation. Its participation has raised the profile of the accountancy profession among global business leaders and is ensuring its voice is heard.

The B20’s recommendations to the G20 give a sense of India’s vision for the global economy, and the Brazilian G20 presidency in 2024 has already voiced alignment with that vision. But achieving policy implementation across the disparate group of 20 nations is a continuing challenge for the G20, and India’s vision of a new institutional architecture in a B20 Global Forum and Global Sustainable Development Goals Acceleration Fund (GSAF) look ambitious. The Global Forum would give the B20 the standing Secretariat it currently lacks, while the GSAF would pool 0.2% of corporate profits from the top 30 economies to tackle the SDGs.

What are the takeaways from the B20 for businesses?

ICAEW’s participation has given it an inside track on developments in the global economy. While at an early stage, they give an indication of opportunities to come, where governments may develop future regulation. The B20 communiqué incudes proposals on:

• Digital literacy: creating common global standards, metrics and a minimum standard for digital literacy.
• Circular economy: supply chain provenance solution – a ‘Digital Material Passport’.
• Skills and work: creating skills standards and tools such as a skills prediction framework and a labour market information system to identify future skills needs.

While achievements at the G20 can appear broad-brush and intangible, shared dialogue enables work to progress on shared challenges while also highlighting areas the private sector is already progressing. ICAEW’s participation is part of an engagement with a growing number of members in India and the wider region, marked by the appointment in June of our member of Council for India Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO of Grant Thornton Bharat.