India will host the annual BRICS summit on September 12-13 at Bharat Mandapam, returning to the venue the place it held the G20 summit in 2023. That gathering is remembered for the inclusion of the African Union in G20, marking a serious step in efforts to bridge the hole between the Western-led international order and the rising International South. At BRICS, India will look to leverage that momentum, working with main rising economies to demand structural reforms of worldwide governance establishments dominated by the West.This may be the 18th summit of the grouping that brings collectively 11 main rising and creating economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, UAE, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia – together with 10 different associate international locations. Collectively, BRICS nations account for 49 p.c of world inhabitants, 40 p.c of worldwide GDP and 26 p.c of worldwide commerce.The final time India hosted an in-person BRICS summit was in 2016 in Goa. This 12 months additionally marks 2 a long time of formalisation of the bloc for cooperation on points associated to international financial and political governance. The theme of India’s 2026 chairship is Constructing for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability, drawing inspiration from PM Narendra Modi’s ‘humanity first’ and people-centric method to BRICS. This may also be the primary summit to see in-person participation by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the reason that begin of the Ukraine warfare. Chinese language President Xi Jinping can be visiting India for the primary time in 7 years to take part within the summit.Below its chairship, India has to date held over 350 conferences – 25 on the ministerial stage together with the overseas ministers and nationwide safety advisers’ engagements. The ministerial conferences have to date resulted in key outcomes and initiatives spanning agriculture, well being, power, setting, catastrophe administration and in addition commerce, reaffirming dedication to a good, inclusive and clear multilateral buying and selling system with WTO at its core.India for BRICS Regardless of the political fragmentation and financial imbalances related to the grouping, BRICS stays necessary for India for a number of causes, particularly in an more and more unsure world. For one, it lends India a platform to follow its strategic autonomy and multi-alignment coverage, not permitting anyone single bloc to amass extreme leverage over it. That it will probably concurrently increase its strategic and know-how ties with the West and in addition work with Quad for a free and open Indo-Pacific reinforces an impartial overseas coverage. For India, as exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar has stated, BRICS is an embodiment of a multipolar world. India just isn’t giving up on its Western partnerships, solely hedging towards uncertainty whether or not from US unpredictability or Chinese language ascendancy.BRICS additionally permits India to showcase its International South management credentials, as it really works with different main rising markets to push for reforms of worldwide establishments just like the UNSC, IMF and World Financial institution that aren’t consultant of the creating world. Assist for UNSC reforms is necessary, though it nonetheless falls in need of an express endorsement of India’s everlasting membership bid, primarily due to China’s presence.India’s method to BRICS can be guided by its complicated ties with China. Turning away would imply permitting China to single-handedly form the agenda of the creating world. BRICS is consensus pushed and even for Washington and different Western capitals, India’s moderating affect must be of significance because it prevents the bloc from turning into an anti-West platform.There’s focus as nicely on increasing monetary structure as no authorities would love its commerce to be held hostage by devices it will probably’t management. As Jaishankar has underlined, establishments such because the New Growth Financial institution and the Contingent Reserve Association show the group’s capability to create credible options. For India, these will not be initiatives focused at any forex. In any case, India has formally stated it is towards de-dollarisation or any try to focus on the US forex. It has additionally dominated out any proposal for a typical BRICS forex.BRICS gives India with markets, together with commerce diversification, de-risking and supply-chain alternatives. In accordance with a commerce ministry press launch, intra-BRICS merchandise commerce reached roughly $1.17 trillion in 2024. India exported an estimated $82 billion in items to BRICS members in FY2025–26, alongside roughly $31.3 billion in companies exports in 2024. BRICS membership deepens India’s commerce relationships with Russia (power), Brazil (agriculture/commodities), Gulf and African international locations, diversifying away from overreliance on any single associate.Key Challenges for India The primary in fact is to forge a consensus on West Asia that will allow a joint BRICS declaration, a activity difficult by the presence of the UAE and Iran within the group. India wouldn’t just like the occasion to finish with a Chair’s Assertion, like what occurred with the overseas ministers’ assembly, understanding nicely that no BRICS summit has concluded with out a complete joint declaration. Overseas secretary Vikram Misri stated final week India has acquired cooperation from all members and the federal government is working to reach finally at a constructive end result that advantages all BRICS stakeholders. India will deal with drafting a decision rooted within the UN Constitution, dialogue and diplomacy, freedom of navigation and civilian safety, whereas trying to ringfence financial agreements from contentious political points by acknowledging respective nationwide positions.Balancing relations with the US is one other key concern for India, which is internet hosting the summit contemporary off a tariff firestorm with Washington. US President Donald Trump sees the grouping itself as an assault on the US forex and has threatened to impose one hundred pc tariffs on BRICS nations in the event that they work to switch the US greenback. India backs professional local-currency settlement, whereas sustaining it’s towards any frequent BRICS forex or China-centered alternative mechanism. Because it walks the diplomatic tightrope, India should steer initiatives like the mixing of central financial institution digital currencies (CBDCs) however with out showing to endorse any anti-dollar bloc.One other problem for India is to forestall China’s predominance with out destabilising its bilateral relations with Beijing. For all of the speak about BRICS’ mixed energy, China enjoys a vastly asymmetrical affect with its commerce, funding, manufacturing and important mineral leverage. Cautious of China’s efforts to advance its personal financial pursuits, India has not endorsed SCO’s 2030 financial roadmap and it should discover a method to work with China in BRICS on shared aims however with out permitting the discussion board to be co-opted as a Chinese language financial or geopolitical platform.This additionally intersects with the problem of guaranteeing that an expanded grouping stays governable and cohesive, particularly with international locations like Pakistan and Bangladesh pursuing membership with help from Beijing. True multipolarity and consensus-driven equality throughout the organisation are key imperatives for India.As Jaishankar stated whereas saying India’s summit agenda, BRICS should transition now from a discussion board for discussions to a platform for supply. In that spirit, India appears targeted on delivering an outcome-oriented summit with key deliverables like a unanimous BRICS declaration, logistics supply-chain cooperation framework, incubator/ startup community, improvement finance, cross-border fee and continued help for Indian priorities like UNSC reforms and counterterrorism.
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The inclusion of the African Union was not the one main takeaway from the G20 summit in 2023. Maybe extra dramatic was the last-minute consensus on Ukraine by a compromise language crafted by India, permitting a G20 declaration. India can take confidence from that diplomatic triumph, heading into one other robust however probably rewarding international summit.