WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Saturday hailed India's pledge to buy 10 billion dollars worth of IMF bonds, as top emerging economies pressed for a greater say in running the global economy.

"I welcome the announcement by India of its intention to support the Fund's lending capacity through the purchase of up to 10 billion dollars worth of IMF notes," Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the purchase on Friday at a G20 finance ministers meeting in London.

The pledge comes after China said it would snap up 50 billion dollars worth of the asset, created in July this year as a means of propping up the Washington-based institution's finances.

The IMF has struggled to keep pace with loan demands from nations battling to cope with the global economic crisis, which has caused credit markets and fiscal revenues to wither.

"This investment will help underpin the international financial system by ensuring the Fund has adequate resources to meet the financing needs of its membership," said Strauss-Kahn.

But it is no free lunch for the IMF, with emerging economies demanding a greater say in global finance in return for easing the Fund's financial pressures.

In a statement, the Indian government said it expected more IMF votes and eased access to financing -- in IMF jargon an "increased quota" -- as a quid-pro-quo for the purchase.

"We fully expect that the next general quota review, which is now agreed to be concluded by January 2011, will result in the long overdue substantial re-balancing of quota and voting power in favor of emerging market economies and developing countries," the statement said.

China's note purchase agreement was the first in the history of the 186-nation body, but it now looks set to be followed by similar moves by Brazil and Russia, as well as India.

A deal for Russia to buy up to 10 billion dollars of IMF notes should be concluded by September, a senior Russian government official said in early July.

Brazil is also said to be in the market for 10 billion dollars worth of bonds.

The IMF has traditionally been dominated by the United States and Europe. An informal agreement means the head of the IMF is normally a European, while the head of the World Bank is from North America.

But China's dramatic economic rise and the emergence of the so called BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- as a lobbying bloc has changed the balance of power in recent years.

In sign of that pressure, last year the World Bank appointed former Beijing professor Justin Lin Yifu to become its chief economist.

But the relative weakening of the United States, European Union and Japan because of the global economic slowdown has only served to increase the clamor for reform.

Indian officials said the buy would not stretch the nation's finances, and would be paid in part though foreign exchange reserves.