India gets more voting rights as IMF reforms quota

India would now be joining the US, Japan, Germany and France at the International Monetary Fund's top table. The world’s largest democracy would also be joined with three other emerging markets; this has happened after the multilateral institution said yes to the much-delayed quota reforms on Wednesday.

These changes, which were pending since 2010, has made India stand among the top largest 10 members of the IMF, along with Italy and the UK, as well as fellow newcomers, Brazil, China and Russia.

In the last IMF-World Bank meeting which was held at Lima, Peru, in October last year, India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley had strongly asked for early implementation of these changes.

The reforms recommended that in order for developing countries to be better represented, they needed a 6% shift in quotas in their favour. These changes would raise India's vote share to 2.69% from the current 2.34%.

"These reforms will ensure that the Fund is able to bet-ter meand represent the needs of its members in a rapidly changing global environment," IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said in his official statement. "Today marks a crucial step forward and it is not the end of change as our efforts to strengthen the IMF's governance will continue."

As per the IMF, the changes aim to make better the governance and reflect the increasing role that dynamic emerging markets and developing countries have in the world economy.

"The entry into force of these reforms will reinforce the credibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of the IMF," said the release. "For the first time, four emerging market countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia) will be among the 10 largest members of the IMF."

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