By M S Nazki
For now it is clicking! But the future has plenty of landscape India has to walk through! Brazil, China and Russia have walked through this phenomenon! India has yet to!
BRICS began as an economic investment acronym in 2001 and evolved into an intergovernmental organization representing major emerging economies.
Origin and the BRIC Acronym (2001)
Coining the term: Economist Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs introduced the acronym BRIC in 2001. Original countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Initial purpose: To describe fast-growing economies predicted to dominate global growth by 2050.
Diplomatic Formalization (2006–2009)
First meeting: Foreign ministers from the four nations met informally in September 2006 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Inaugural summit: The first formal BRIC Summit took place in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16, 2009.
Expansion to BRICS (2010–2011)
Adding South Africa: Ministers agreed to invite South Africa in 2010.
First expanded summit: South Africa joined the Official BRICS Portal at the 3rd Summit in Sanya, China, in 2011, changing the acronym to BRICS.
New members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined as full members in January 2024, followed by Indonesia in January 2025.
Partner countries: Ten additional nations joined as partner countries in 2025.
Current status: The bloc represents a major voice for the Global South, with India hosting summits in New Delhi.
The 18th BRICS Summit hosted by India in New Delhi provides a vital platform for New Delhi to amplify the voice of the Global South, secure strategic autonomy and drive reforms in global governance.
Strategic and Economic Importance for India
Voice of the Global South: Amplifies developing nations' interests in multilateral forums.
Global Governance Reform: Pushes for restructuring the UN Security Council (UNSC) and Western-dominated financial institutions.
Strategic Autonomy: Allows India to maintain independent multi-alignment with both Western and non-Western powers.
Economic and Energy Security: Enhances trade opportunities, supply chain resilience and access to alternative financial systems like the New Development Bank (NDB).
Digital and Technological Leadership: Promotes India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) models globally.
At the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Russia and China joined other member nations to sign the New Delhi Declaration, agreeing on key geopolitical and economic stances.
Maximum Restraint: Russia, China and other members expressed deep concern over the escalating Middle East conflicts and urged maximum restraint.
Peaceful Resolution: They called for resolving international disputes through diplomacy and dialogue rather than force.
Trade Distortions: The nations raised concerns about unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures that distort global trade.
Fairer World Order: Russia and China backed a commitment to a more inclusive, representative and fair global order.
UN Security Council: Both nations reiterated their support for India and Brazil to play a greater role in the United Nations, including aspirations for permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
Inclusive Growth: Leaders discussed pushing for inclusive global growth, strengthening supply chains and enhancing trade cooperation among emerging economies.
But no one talked about the economic crisis a common man is facing in India!
The price rise almost every day has torn apart India!
India gained major diplomatic leverage, regional consensus through the New Delhi Declaration and stronger leadership of the Global South by hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026.
Bilateral Dialogues
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held high-level meetings. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss border peace and trade normalization. He also met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to secure energy supplies.
The New Delhi Declaration
Consensus Building: India bridged gaps between member states like Iran and the UAE. This effort secured the adoption of the
Global Stance: The bloc called for maximum restraint in conflicts and warned against the weaponisation of critical minerals and technology.
Economic and Strategic Security
Supply Chains: India pushed for secure supply chains for critical minerals and stable fertilizer and energy supplies.
Alternative Payments: India advanced talks on interoperable, homegrown payment systems to lower cross-border transaction costs.
No, India did not "lose" on the BRICS stage but we did not win also! In fact, at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi (September 12–13, 2026), India pulled off what international analysts are widely calling a major diplomatic victory by achieving a unanimous consensus on the New Delhi Declaration.
Before the summit, geopolitical tension was high and many experts predicted a deadlock or a "setback" for India. However, India successfully navigated the complex divides within the expanded 11-member bloc.
Breaking the Iran-UAE Deadlock
The Challenge: In May 2026, a BRICS foreign ministers' meeting failed to issue a joint declaration because of immense friction between Iran and the UAE over the ongoing military conflicts in West Asia.
India's Win: During intense overnight negotiations in New Delhi, Indian diplomats bridged the gap. Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured sign-offs from both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and UAE representatives, leading to a fully adopted joint consensus text.
The Currency Debate
While heavily sanctioned nations like Russia and Iran strongly advocated for a unified BRICS currency to replace the U.S. dollar, India successfully held its ground. India ruled out a joint currency and instead steered the bloc toward backing local currency trade settlements, preserving its financial autonomy and strategic alignment with Western markets.
India-China Reset
Rather than being sidelined by China, the New Delhi summit provided a crucial stage for a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to advance a gradual diplomatic thaw and handle lingering border disputes.
Where India Faces Challenges
While the diplomacy was a clear success, economic data raised some domestic concerns!
Trade Deficits: Recent trade reports highlighted that India's trade deficit with BRICS nations more than tripled over a five-year period (reaching $226.1 billion by fiscal year 2026), driven heavily by a massive surge in imports from China. Critics and opposition leaders have pointed to these figures to question the domestic economic imbalances within the bloc.
Ultimately, as the host nation, India successfully projected itself as a leading voice for the Global South and proved it could maintain functional ties with Russia, China and Iran while keeping its critical alliances with the West intact.
BRICS
BRICS, informal grouping of countries that has developed into an intergovernmental organization.
The term BRICS originally denoted a collection of countries experiencing rapid economic growth that would, if growth were maintained at similar rates, emerge as the dominant economic players of the 21st century. The acronym, derived from the names of the early members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has since been adopted as the name of a formal intergovernmental organization that aims to create greater economic and geopolitical integration and coordination among member states.
The BRICS organization is commonly understood as an attempt to form a geopolitical bloc capable of counterbalancing the influence of Western-dominated global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. However, the genuine cohesion and alignment of the BRICS countries and the actual value of the alliance is a matter of debate. Some commentators point to the vast differences in the political systems, economies and geopolitical positions of the member states as evidence of the organization’s fragility.
Origins and Evolution
The acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) was first used by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill to describe the four economies that could, if growth were maintained, dominate the global economy by 2050. Representatives of the BRIC countries first began meeting informally during the 2006 meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
At their first summit in 2009, the BRIC states affirmed their commitment to a multipolar world order and global noninterventionism and called for a new global reserve currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. In 2011 South Africa joined the organization and the group’s acronym changed to BRICS. This reflected its focus away from a specific economic designation toward a more inclusive grouping of emerging regional leaders.
There is no formal application process to join BRICS, but new members must be unanimously approved by existing ones. At the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa, BRICS announced the admission of Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina as new member states. Soon after he became president of Argentina, Javier Milei announced that his country would not join the organization, while the other countries became members in 2024–25. The informal name BRICS+ is sometimes used to acknowledge the organization’s expansion.
BRICS Member States
The 2012 BRICS summit, after criticizing aspects of the IMF and the World Bank, members proposed the creation of a new international development bank to provide funding and loans for development projects in emerging economies. This New Development Bank (NDB) began operating in July 2014, with founding BRICS members having pooled $100 billion as the bank’s authorized capital. Each founding BRICS member holds an equal stake in the NDB and contributes an equal share to the bank’s assets. Other countries have become members of the NDB since its creation.
BRICS is the group composed of the five major emerging countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
It together represents about 42% of the population, 23% of GDP, 30% of the territory and 18% of the global trade.
The acronym BRIC was coined by economist Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs in 2001 to indicate the emerging powers that would be, alongside the United States, the five largest economies of the world in the 21st century.
In 2006, BRIC countries started their dialogue, which since 2009 takes place at annual meetings of heads of state and government.
In 2011, with South Africa joining the group, the BRICS reached its final composition, incorporating a country from the African continent.
Objectives of BRICS
One of the major objectives of the grouping is broadening, deepening and intensifying cooperation among the member countries for mutually beneficial, sustainable and equitable development.
The Final Lines
BRICS takes into consideration each member’s growth, development and poverty objectives to ensure relations are built on the respective country’s economic strengths and to avoid competition where possible.
BRICS is not a unified trading bloc or a single investment product, but rather an expanding economic alliance of major emerging markets. From a growth perspective, it represents one of the most powerful economic engines globally, with member countries projected to grow at an average real GDP rate of 3.7% in 2026, drastically outperforming the G7's expected 1.2% growth.
BRICS is emerging as a new and promising political-diplomatic entity with diverse objectives, far beyond the original objective of reforming global financial institutions.
It’s an emerging investment market and global power bloc.
During the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil (2014), the leaders signed the Agreement for establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
Fortaleza Declaration stressed that the NDB will strengthen cooperation among BRICS and will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development thus contributing to sustainable and balanced growth.
NDB has successfully worked as one of the most promising multilateral development institutions. Since its inception in 2015, it has approved 42 investment projects worth over $15 billion.
The Final Lines
BRICS is not a unified trading bloc or a single investment product, but rather an expanding economic alliance of major emerging markets. From a growth perspective, it represents one of the most powerful economic engines globally, with member countries projected to grow at an average real GDP rate of 3.7% in 2026, drastically outperforming the G7's expected 1.2% growth.
However, because BRICS is an alliance rather than a centralized entity, you cannot invest in "BRICS" as a single stock. Instead, investors approach the bloc through individual member markets or targeted funds. And that is period!.
