Lagarde seeks India’s support for IMF leadership

AFP - India's finance minister said Tuesday that the next head of the IMF should be picked on merit, not nationality, in a veiled criticism of Europe's stranglehold on the position.

"The selection of the managing director of the IMF or that of the World Bank should be on the basis of merit, competence, and (be made) in a transparent manner," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after a meeting with the leading candidate for the job, France's Christine Lagarde.

"There should be a broad consensus. India would like to be part of that consensus.

"We are working with other countries, particularly with the (large emerging economy) BRIC countries. It's not possible to say whether there will be a common candidate."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has conceded it will be difficult to break Europe's lock on the managing director position of the lender, but Delhi has joined other emerging countries in criticising the selection process.

Under a tradition that has existed since the formation of the IMF after World War II, a European has always headed the institution while an American leads the World Bank, the IMF's sister organisation.

Lagarde, France's finance minister, is on a world tour with stops in Brazil, India, China and Africa aimed at overcoming opposition in emerging countries to her bid to lead the institution.