The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said on Thursday that the decision on who India would vote for the top job at the IMF would be made at the level of the Prime Minister.

“It has to be decided at the Prime Minister's level. In between we would like to see who the candidates are,” Mr Mukherjee told reporters here.

He was responding to queries on India's stand on the candidacy of the Mexican Central Bank Governor, Mr Agustin Carstens, who is slated to meet Mr Mukherjee on Friday. Mr Carstens will visit New Delhi on Friday to seek support for his candidature for the top IMF post.

Earlier this week, the French Finance Minister, Ms Christine Lagarde, who is the front runner for the top IMF post, had visited New Delhi to drum up support for her candidacy. However, Ms Lagarde did not get any assurance of support from the Indian side even as she maintained that her visit was not intended to seek any assurance or re-assurance.

Mr Mukherjee had made it clear that India had not given any assurance to Ms Lagarde, but was looking to arrive at consensus on the selection of the new IMF chief. India has taken a stance that the criteria for selection should not be on any particular nationality, but on the basis of merit and competence.

Traditionally, the post of IMF Managing Director has been held by a European, while the World Bank is headed by a US nominee.

The BRICS group had recently questioned the methodology of selection of IMF chief on the basis of nationality.

“The convention that the selection of the Managing Director is made, in practice, on the basis of nationality undermines the legitimacy of the Fund,” the Executive Directors representing the BRICS had said in a statement.

Although India has been non-committal on the issue of supporting Ms Lagarde, it has so far not been able to decide on an alternative along with BRICS member countries.

> krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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