New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS): India Thursday approved amendments to International Monetary Fund (IMF) charter, which, among other issues, seek to give higher voting rights to emerging economies.

The IMF had last year increased the voting rights of emerging economies including India, China and Brazil. It raised India's voting rights from 2.77 percent to 2.91 percent, while China's share almost doubled, increasing by 2.77 percent to 4.42 percent.

India now stands at the seventh position in accordance to voting power, while China is in the third position.

"The amendments are part of a package of reforms on quotas and governance in the IMF. Along with the recent quota reforms in IMF, these amendments represent a major overhaul of the fund`s governance and help in strengthening the fund`s legitimacy and effectiveness," said a note issued by the cabinet.

At the 24-member executive board of the IMF, currently the members with the five largest quotas appoint an executive director each, while the rest of the executive directors are elected.

"The proposed amendments would facilitate a move towards a more representative, all-elected executive board, ending the category of appointed executive directors," the note added.

The amendments will also reduce the number of executive directors representing advanced European countries by two in favour of emerging market and developed countries.