IMF revamps quota; India among top 10

In a historic move, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided to overhaul the Fund's quota regime and governance, signalling the acceptance of the growing role of big emerging nations in the global economy.

The IMF board said Friday that it proposes to complete doubling of quotas to approximately 477 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), valued at $756 billion at current exchange rates, and a major realignment of quota shares among members, consistent with the 14th general review of quotas. 

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF. Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies: US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and pound sterling. (1 SDR=1.585 US dollars)

''This historic agreement is the most fundamental governance overhaul in the Fund's 65-year history and the biggest ever shift of influence in favour of emerging market and developing countries to recognise their growing role in the global economy," IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

India will figure in the group of 10 largest members of the Fund along with the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Russia, and Brazil. Overall, the reforms increase the weight of BRIC countries-Brazil, Russia, India, and China- on the IMF's executive board.

''The ranking of the countries is now really the ranking they have in the global economy,'' Strauss-Kahn said.