'India hasn’t taken an IMF loan since 1993...': Gul Panag gives Pak journalist a reality check, congratulates on loan

On May 9, actor and political activist Gul Panag delivered a blistering reality check on social media, cutting through geopolitical noise with a single tweet. Her target: a Pakistani journalist who claimed an IMF loan approval was a diplomatic blow to India. With her trademark sarcasm, Panag didn’t just clap back — she reminded the world that India hasn't needed an IMF bailout in over three decades.

Responding directly to journalist Shahbaz Rana, who declared on X (formally Twitter) that the IMF’s greenlight of a $1 billion tranche to Pakistan was “a humiliating defeat for India,” Panag retorted, “Sir, congratulations on another loan. With respect, we don’t need that money. You do. FYI, we have not taken any financial assistance from the IMF since 1993. Repayments of all the loans taken from the International Monetary Fund were completed on 31 May, 2000.”

The IMF's latest loan is part of a broader package aimed at stabilising Pakistan’s faltering economy. According to the Fund, this second tranche brings the total disbursement under the program to approximately $2.1 billion.

India, for its part, has expressed strong opposition to financial assistance being extended to Pakistan, citing the latter’s continued support for cross-border terrorism. New Delhi has warned that funding such regimes undermines the credibility of global institutions.

The timing of the financial aid also overlaps with escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Under Operation Sindoor, the Indian Army recently targeted terrorist camps at nine sites inside Pakistan following the deadly Pahalgam attack. Between May 8 and 9, Indian forces also repelled multiple drone incursions across the LoC using systems like the Akash missile defence and C-UAS platforms.