2023: A year when G20 helped India solidify its place on world stage

India's focus to be the voice of Global South has earned it support in region. Some experts believe it has even changed the structure of G20 into a development organisation and not just an elite club

On September 9, as India clinched the G20 Leaders’ Declaration, many were left surprised by its diplomatic achievement. The grand Bharat Mandapam, bedecked and ready for this celebration days in advance, was as though aware of what was coming.

The venue became the nerve centre from where the consensus was finally forged amid complex global circumstances, which made India’s task all the more challenging.

International affairs experts feel that it was the moment India became a big stabilising force in a highly divided world, and this elevated its image of a soft power that means business like never before.

“Consensus-building has been India’s