No voice of dissent was raised by the US, Russia and China at the summit and India’s policy of pushing the Indo-US relationship to a new height while maintaining the country’s deep bonds with Russia was proceeding unhindered.

India maintained its vocal advocacy of UN reforms on the grounds that the world body had to be a representative one in today’s global order and had to broad base its decision-making process.

It appears that voices favouring India’s inclusion as a permanent member of the UN Security Council are getting stronger every day as there is a realisation that this was needed to maintain the very credibility of the UN body as the arbiter of matters affecting global order and peace.

It may be mentioned here that the Delhi Declaration of the G20 Summit gave equal importance to issues of world security and global economic development - this was because India had chosen to be upfront about expressing concerns at all world forums that affected India’s security and posed a danger to the world at large, as well.

At the G20 summit, India gave a clear message to China and Pakistan that it was well-prepared to deal with them both and effectively counter their joint mischief against this country.

After the G20 summit, India is better prepared to deal with an aggressive China on the borders and elsewhere and is in a position to inflict costs on Pakistan for its cross-border misadventures. For all of that, the Prime Minister is rightly relying on capacity building by India on the ‘mantra’ of self-dependence.

The gains of G20 have been unprecedented in terms of the cultural richness, ‘soft power’ potential and new avenues of exports of India’s enormous handicrafts and local products, to which the world was given access during the extensive get-togethers and domestic ‘touring’ organised for the visiting dignitaries.

G20 events were held in 60 cities across 28 states and 8 Union Territories. Foreign guests literally emerged in the rich Indian culture - the gifts presented to them ranged from Pashmina shawls and Khadi stoles to Indian and Rosewood handcrafts and Kannauj perfumes. They all had once in a lifetime experience on this visit to India. This will impact favourably on India’s economic prospects and diplomatic advancement.

The larger gain from G20 is that by hosting the summit on such a grand scale of hospitality, providing for bilateral meetings with most visiting heads and presenting India as the flag bearer of the Global South and as a champion of humanitarian approach to economic development, India’s Presidency has converted this group of developed countries into a world forum where an unbiased view could be upheld on geopolitical developments, issues of global economy with particular reference to the lot of the developing countries and on crucial dimensions of ‘one earth one family’ like climate change, disaster management and gender equality.