The West Asia crisis is a particularly difficult test. Iran and the UAE are both members of Brics but have differing positions on the conflict.

Saudi Arabia is also part of the grouping, adding another layer of complexity to attempts to craft a common political response. With Brics functioning on the principle of consensus, India faces the delicate task of finding language that can accommodate competing national positions while still producing a meaningful summit declaration.

What is BRICSIndia’s four prioritiesResilienceThe resilience pillar focuses on strengthening the ability of BRICS economies to withstand disruptions in the global economy. The agenda includes health, agriculture, food security, energy security, disaster risk reduction and critical supply chains.

The focus reflects lessons from the pandemic, geopolitical conflicts and disruptions to global trade and logistics. For emerging economies, disruptions in energy supplies, food markets, shipping routes or access to essential industrial inputs can quickly translate into inflation, shortages and slower growth.

India has therefore sought greater cooperation among BRICS countries to build more resilient and diversified supply chains, alongside stronger trade, investment and connectivity. InnovationThe second pillar focuses on innovation and emerging technologies.

India has highlighted digital public infrastructure, fintech, artificial intelligence and knowledge-sharing as tools that can help Brics economies improve public services and create new opportunities for growth. For New Delhi, the emphasis is not simply on technological advancement but on using technology for inclusive development.

India is seeking to showcase its experience with digital public infrastructure while encouraging cooperation in areas where emerging technologies can support health, agriculture, financial inclusion, disaster management and public service delivery. The larger objective is to make Brics cooperation more relevant to citizens rather than confining it to government-to-government discussions.

CooperationThe third pillar seeks to deepen practical cooperation through policy coordination, development finance, trade facilitation, investment, connectivity and reform of global institutions. External affairs minister S Jaishankar has said Brics must move from being a forum for discussions to a platform for delivery.

That approach is reflected in the range of meetings held during India’s chairship, including ministerial engagements and discussions involving business, technology and other stakeholders. India has also sought to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and broaden participation beyond political leaders and government officials.

SustainabilityThe fourth pillar is sustainability, with a focus on climate action, green finance, energy transition and sustainable development. For Brics economies, the challenge is particularly complex: many are simultaneously dealing with rising energy demand, development needs and pressure to reduce emissions.

India has therefore placed emphasis on finding practical pathways that balance economic growth with climate objectives, while recognising the different development levels and energy requirements of member countries. India will host the BRICS summit here on September 12-13, 2026.

Brics and India’s Global South pitchAt its core, Brics has evolved into a platform for emerging economies seeking a greater say in the institutions that shape the global economic and political order. Its members argue that the distribution of influence in institutions such as the IMF and World Bank does not adequately reflect the economic weight of developing countries today.

India has consistently backed reforms to global governance institutions, including greater representation for developing countries. But New Delhi’s approach is not one of replacing the existing global economic system with a new bloc-based order.

India continues to maintain deep economic, technological and strategic relationships with Western economies while participating in groupings such as the Quad and G20. For New Delhi, Brics is therefore a tool of strategic autonomy and multi-alignment a platform through which India can work with China, Russia, Gulf countries, Africa and Latin America while simultaneously expanding its engagement with the US, Europe and other partners.

It also strengthens India’s credentials as a leading voice of the Global South. The economic storyThe economic weight of Brics is perhaps its most obvious strength.

5% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade. 5 billion in FY26, according to data cited by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

But the numbers also expose a major challenge for New Delhi: the rapid growth of imports has far outpaced exports. 7 billion in FY26.

8 billion. 1 billion.

UAE is India’s biggest Brics export marketWithin the expanded grouping, the UAE emerged as India’s largest export market in FY26. 4 billion to the UAE, up 124% from FY21.

3 billion. 5 billion each.

India’s exports declined to Indonesia, Iran and Ethiopia. On the import side, however, China remained India’s largest Brics supplier.

6 billion, accounting for about 41% of India’s Brics imports. 4 billion, primarily because of higher energy purchases.

China, the UAE and Russia together accounted for almost 84% of India’s imports from Brics. For India, the challenge is therefore not simply to increase trade with Brics but to make that trade more balanced.

GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava said the priority should be to correct the growing imbalance. “Brics is becoming an increasingly important source of machinery, industrial inputs, energy and commodities.

“India should seek better market access in China, Russia and Indonesia, address non-tariff barriers, promote higher-value exports and reduce excessive dependence on a few Brics suppliers. Without stronger export growth, deeper intra-BRICS trade could further widen India's already large trade deficit,” he added.

The broader Brics trade numbers tell another story. 8% of their combined global exports.

5% of their global imports. This means BRICS economies remain more important to one another as sources of imports than as export destinations.

China is the dominant player. 6% of global exports.

3% of global imports. 9 billion from them.

China’s manufacturing scale, export capacity and role in global supply chains make it the economic anchor of Brics. For commodity-producing members, China provides a major market.

For countries such as India and Brazil, the bloc provides opportunities for diversification and greater collective bargaining power. But it also means Brics integration cannot be understood simply as a partnership among equals.

For the grouping to become a genuinely integrated economic force, the next stage would require deeper business-to-business connections, greater investment flows and stronger institutional links. The Trump factorIndia’s Brics presidency has another powerful observer: US President Donald Trump.

As Brics leaders gather in New Delhi against the backdrop of the Iran war, disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, trade tensions and a rapidly shifting global economy, Washington will be watching closely. Each of these issues intersects with US interests, from energy prices and shipping routes to tariffs, the dollar and the changing balance of global power.

“You have this little group called Brics. It's fading out fast, but BRICS is, they wanted to try and take over the dollar, the dominance of the dollar, and the standard of the dollar,” Trump told reporters at the White House last year in July.

He also warned: “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of Brics, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!” “I told anybody who wants to be in Brics, that's fine, but we're going to put tariffs on your nation,” he said in the Oval Office.

The Troika: India, Russia and ChinaThe geopolitical backdrop has made the Brics summit even more consequential. At the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin projected an unusually warm display of strategic camaraderie.

PM Modi described Russia as a “special and privileged partner”, while Xi said “the world’s two most populous countries need to be friends.” Putin, meanwhile, referred to Modi as his “dear friend” and travelled with him in his armoured Aurus limousine.

The optics came at a particularly sensitive moment for Washington. The Trump administration has sought to prevent Russia and China from developing an even closer strategic partnership.

Trump himself has said: “The one thing you never want to happen is… Russia and China uniting. I’m going to have to un-unite them, and I think I can do that.”

The logic echoes the strategy of former US president Richard Nixon, whose 1972 opening to China exploited the Sino-Soviet split and transformed the Cold War balance. The emerging picture today, however, is markedly different.

Rather than driving Russia away from China, Washington’s efforts have coincided with Moscow maintaining close ties with Beijing while simultaneously deepening its relationship with New Delhi. “The Nixon paradigm did work in reverse, but differently from what the US had thought; that is, Moscow played Washington this time,” he added.

The significance goes beyond symbolism. Russia has emerged as an important supplier of energy and defence equipment to India, while China remains India’s largest trading partner and a major economic power within Brics.

The global guest list for Brics Summit. Xi’s India visit adds another layerChinese President Xi Jinping will also visit India for the Brics summit, marking his first visit to the country in seven years.

His participation is significant not only for Brics but also for the gradual improvement in India-China ties following the 2020 eastern Ladakh military standoff. PM Modi and Xi have held several meetings since their 2024 interaction on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, which marked a further easing of tensions and the resolution of issues related to disengagement.

The two sides have also resumed high-level engagement on the boundary question. For India, the Brics summit provides an opportunity to push for fair market access, reliable supply chains and greater balance in bilateral trade, while maintaining its position that peace and tranquillity along the border are essential for the broader development of ties.

For China, the summit is equally important because Beijing will take over the Brics chairship after India. Iran, UAE and the test of consensusIf the economic agenda tests Brics’ ability to deliver, the Middle East crisis is testing its ability to reach consensus.

Iran is a full member of Brics. So are the UAE and Saudi Arabia, countries with their own strategic interests in the region.

India is seeking language that emphasises the UN Charter, dialogue and diplomacy, freedom of navigation and civilian protection. The Strait of Hormuz adds particular urgency because any prolonged disruption could affect global energy markets, shipping costs and inflation.

The challenge is to ensure that disagreements over the conflict do not derail the broader economic agenda. If consensus on political language proves difficult, New Delhi may seek to insulate economic agreements from contentious geopolitical issues by acknowledging individual national positions.

The India challenge: Making a bigger Brics workThe rapid expansion of Brics has increased its global influence but also raised questions about governability. Prof Srikanth Kondapalli of Jawaharlal Nehru University has described the transformation as significant, pointing to the growing geographical spread and increasing number of countries seeking closer association with the grouping.

He pointed to cooperation in areas including agriculture, startups, climate finance and artificial intelligence, arguing that these could help developing economies cope with international shocks. “There is no organisation which is intercontinental other than the United Nations.

Brics has over these two decades established itself as an intercontinental organisation,” he said. The challenge for India is therefore to ensure that a larger Brics does not become a less effective Brics.

What India wants from the summitIndia’s priorities for the summit extend beyond the headline political issues. Among the areas expected to receive attention are trade, investment, development finance, resilient supply chains, cross-border payments, startups, technology, sustainability and global governance reform.

India also wants continued support for issues such as UN Security Council reform and counter-terrorism cooperation. The proposed outcomes are aimed at giving the chairship a practical legacy.

The summit is expected to culminate in the release of the New Delhi Declaration, although reaching consensus on the document remains one of the key diplomatic challenges. According to the ministry of external affairs schedule, the summit will begin on Saturday afternoon with a closed-door session for Brics member countries on “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism.”

The leaders will subsequently visit the Bharat Innovates Exhibition, followed by a family photograph and joint tree-planting ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a gala dinner for the leaders on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, the leaders will attend the open session titled “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth.” The summit will conclude with the release of the New Delhi Declaration.

On Sunday, the leaders will attend the open session titled “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." India’s multi-alignment in sharper focusFor India, the message is less about choosing and more about preserving strategic room to manoeuvre.

Recent diplomatic activity has underscored that approach. PM Modi met Xi in China and held talks with Putin, while also maintaining engagement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Russia relationship remains particularly important because of energy. “I don’t want to give you any figures for understandable reasons, but every month we have a new record,” he said.

“Russia is capable of fulfilling its obligations, and they will be fulfilled. This issue is being mentioned during the conversations of our two leaders,” Peskov added.

Moscow is also exploring deeper cooperation with India in areas including rare earths and the potential sale of Su-57 fighter jets, according to Peskov. On Ukraine, he suggested that Moscow sees considerable convergence with New Delhi.

“We know India’s position on the Ukrainian conflict, and to a great extent... it corresponds with our own position, because we do want the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict by peaceful means, and Russia is open to this process,” Peskov said.

The tariff factorThe relationship with Washington, meanwhile, has become more complicated. Trump’s tariff policy has added an economic dimension to what was already a difficult geopolitical balancing act.

For India, the concern is that pressure over trade could spill into wider strategic ties. At the same time, India’s growing closeness to Moscow and renewed engagement with Beijing do not necessarily signal a break with Washington.

As Sreeram Sundar Chaulia of the Jindal School of International Affairs put it, India could still seek to maintain both relationships, “the Russian cake and eating the American pie”, but trust with Washington would be crucial. Russia has rejected the suggestion that Brics is pursuing formal de-dollarisation.

Peskov said the grouping was not considering such a move, while criticising the use of national currencies as instruments of political pressure and calling proposed US sanctions illegal and unacceptable. India’s position is broadly consistent with this distinction: greater financial diversification is not the same as replacing the dollar.

Why Brics matters to IndiaDespite its political differences and economic imbalances, Brics remains strategically important to India. The grouping gives New Delhi a platform to work with China, Russia, Gulf countries, Africa and Latin America while continuing its engagement with the US, Europe, the Quad and other Western partners.

It also strengthens India’s claim to a leadership role in the Global South. Working alongside major emerging economies, India can push for reforms of institutions such as the UN Security Council, IMF and World Bank, whose structures are widely seen as insufficiently representative of the developing world.

Support within Brics for reform of the UN system is significant, although it falls short of an explicit endorsement of India’s bid for permanent membership of the Security Council, an issue complicated by China’s position. The China factor remains central.

Stepping away from Brics would risk leaving greater space for Beijing to shape the economic and political agenda of the developing world. India’s presence allows it to push for a more balanced approach and resist any attempt to turn Brics into an explicitly anti-Western platform.

Despite its political differences and economic imbalances, Brics remains strategically important to India. Building alternatives without targeting dollarFinancial cooperation is another important pillar.

Institutions such as the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) demonstrate Brics’ ability to build mechanisms of its own. India supports greater use of local currencies for legitimate trade and settlement, but has opposed the idea of a common Brics currency or a China-dominated alternative to the existing financial system.

The economic case is equally important. Brics provides India with access to large markets while creating opportunities for trade diversification, supply-chain resilience and de-risking.

Its membership also deepens India’s economic ties with major energy suppliers such as Russia, agricultural and commodity producers such as Brazil, and Gulf and African economies. From dialogue to deliveryJaishankar, while announcing India’s Brics summit, said the grouping must now move “from a forum for discussions to a platform for delivery.”

That objective is reflected in India’s focus on concrete outcomes for the New Delhi summit, including a Brics declaration, a logistics and supply-chain cooperation framework, startup and incubator networks, development finance, cross-border payments, and continued support for priorities such as UN Security Council reform and counterterrorism. India has some reason for confidence when it comes to navigating difficult multilateral negotiations.

At the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi, the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member was a major diplomatic achievement. Equally significant was the last-minute consensus on Ukraine, where India helped broker compromise language that enabled leaders to adopt a joint declaration despite deep divisions over the war.

That experience could prove valuable as New Delhi prepares for another difficult summit involving an even more diverse set of political and economic interests. Brics has travelled a long way from the acronym coined by Goldman Sachs to describe emerging economies with high growth potential.

A 20-year-old grouping at a turning pointBrics has travelled a long way from the acronym coined by Goldman Sachs to describe emerging economies with high growth potential. Yet economic size alone does not create an integrated bloc.

The growth of intra-Brics trade has been substantial, but investment and deeper business links remain less developed than the bloc’s headline economic numbers might suggest. Brics has created political visibility, expanded South-South trade and established institutions such as the NDB.

It has also strengthened calls for greater representation of emerging economies in global governance. The next test is whether that weight can be converted into deeper cooperation and tangible results.

From a platform to a forceFor India, the opportunity lies in using Brics to make the Global South’s economic weight count more effectively without turning the grouping into an anti-Western alliance. That requires navigating several contradictions at once.

India must work with China without allowing Beijing’s economic dominance to dictate the agenda. It must push for local-currency trade without turning the dollar debate into a confrontation.

And it must build consensus among countries whose interests can diverge sharply, particularly on issues such as West Asia. The economic challenge is equally clear.

India needs Brics markets, but it also needs to ensure that greater integration does not deepen its trade deficit. It needs access to Chinese and other Brics markets while reducing excessive dependence on a handful of suppliers.

At a time of wars, tariff battles, supply-chain disruptions and a rapidly changing global order, this is perhaps the biggest test yet for a bloc that began as an economic acronym and has grown into an important geopolitical platform. Brics has grown bigger.

India’s task is to make it more effective.

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