Economics · Ch 8 — International Economic Organisations
Relevance to the Indian Economy
Relevance to the Indian Economy
These organisations touch the Indian economy in concrete, ongoing ways. The IMF has provided balance-of-payments support at critical junctures (1991 being the best-known example) and continues its annual surveillance of India's macroeconomic policy. The World Bank Group has financed a wide range of Indian infrastructure, rural-development, and social-sector projects since independence, with IFC separately backing private Indian enterprises. The WTO framework governs the tariff bindings, anti-dumping rules, and dispute-settlement options India uses in its trade relations — India has both filed and defended disputes at the WTO. Regionally, SAARC/SAFTA shapes India's trade preferences with its immediate neighbours, while UNCTAD provides a forum where India, as a large developing economy, presses positions shared with other developing countries on trade and development issues.
How the institutions relate to one another:
| Institution | Relationship |
|---|---|
| IMF | Separate, parallel Bretton Woods institution — short-term monetary/balance-of-payments stability |
| World Bank Group | Separate, parallel Bretton Woods institution — long-term development finance, made up of five affiliates: |
| — IBRD | Lends to creditworthy middle- and lower-income governments |
| — IDA | Interest-free/very-low-interest loans and grants to the poorest countries |