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Subject: GroupingsXRegional

  • India’s BRICS diplomacy is more than one summit’s result

    Why in the News

    Eleven members of BRICS have adopted the New Delhi Declaration 2026 by consensus, reiterating the importance of the Palestinian question and the two state solution. The Rio BRICS Declaration 2025 had gone further, condemning the military strikes against Iran as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. That formula was no longer available in Delhi. Iran had by then struck targets across the Gulf, including the territory of fellow BRICS members. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had suspended trade and financial dealings with Tehran. The tension is whether a plurilateral forum is judged by the settlements it produces or by the dialogue it makes possible between members who have become belligerents against one another.

    Why was the Rio formula unavailable in New Delhi?

    1. Position in June 2025: Iran was a BRICS member that had been attacked, so every other member could condemn the strikes without contradicting its own position.
    2. The February 2026 escalation: The United States and Israel struck Iran again. Iran responded by striking targets across the Gulf, including the territory of fellow BRICS members.
    3. The UAE’s exposure: The UAE absorbed more Iranian projectiles than any other member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the six state grouping of Arab Gulf monarchies. It then suspended trade and financial dealings with Tehran.
    4. Why the formula lapsed: The condemnation language became unavailable because members had become belligerents against one another, not because the chair lacked resolve.

    What makes consensus among eleven members the achievement?

    1. The ministerial failure: BRICS foreign ministers met in New Delhi in May 2026 and produced no outcome document at all.
    2. The chair’s own assessment: The Ministry of External Affairs conceded in March that members were directly involved in the conflict, and that India as chair was working the Sherpa channel, the track of leaders’ personal representatives who negotiate summit texts before the leaders meet, to narrow differences.
    3. The turnaround: Four months after the ministerial failure, eleven members adopted a declaration by consensus.
    4. Precision where agreement existed: On the Palestinian question and the two state solution the language stayed precise rather than general.
    5. A floor where it did not: On the contested questions the text built a floor instead of delivering a verdict.

    Does a dialogue floor count as an outcome?

    1. The competing standard: One view tests a forum such as BRICS on the tangible outcomes it produces, not on the agency for dialogue and diplomacy it provides.
    2. Why that test misfires in a live conflict: The initiation of a dialogue cannot be expected to produce an immediate settlement, so judging it by the ends it may ultimately achieve dismisses it before it can work.
    3. The first bilateral since the war: Iran and the UAE used the summit for their first high level bilateral meeting since the war began.
    4. The declaration’s own significance: The importance of the West Asia text lies not only in what it says but in the fact that there was a declaration at all.
    5. Means as outcome: Where members are themselves parties to the conflict, the floor a summit provides is the result rather than a step toward one.

    What has a decade of Gulf engagement built?

    1. A changed agenda: India’s engagement with the Gulf has shifted from oil and trade toward defence, technology and security.
    2. Relationships across binaries: India’s relationships in West Asia are not organised as mutually exclusive choices between Iran and the Arab Gulf states.
    3. Access on the Arab Gulf side: India can register the security anxieties of the Arab Gulf without treating Iran’s isolation as an objective.
    4. Access on the Iranian side: India can engage Iran without appearing indifferent to Gulf security.
    5. Strategic autonomy restated: Strategic autonomy does more than create manoeuvring room for India. It creates diplomatic room between others.

    What are the limits of India’s position?

    1. Not a mediator: A summit declaration does not make India a direct mediator in West Asia.
    2. What formal mediation requires: Mediation requires acceptance by the parties, a mandate and a negotiating agenda, none of which a consensus text confers.
    3. What India can offer instead: Trusted channels where they are scarce, political access across opposing capitals, and the ability to enlarge the space for accommodation.
    4. The price not charged: That access is offered without demanding geopolitical allegiance from any of the parties.

    Challenges to India’s BRICS diplomacy

    1. Consensus rule lowers the ceiling: Every member holds an effective veto over the text, so an expanded membership reduces what any declaration can say. Eg. BRICS declarations record national positions on the Ukraine conflict rather than a common one.
      The Fix: Move contested items to issue based coalitions of willing members and keep the leaders’ declaration to the ground the whole group holds.
    2. No standing institutional memory: The grouping has no charter and no permanent secretariat, so continuity depends on the capacity of each rotating chair. Eg. The New Development Bank in Shanghai is the only permanent BRICS institution with a headquarters and a staff.
      The Fix: Establish a small standing secretariat to carry the Sherpa agenda across chairs rather than rebuilding it annually.
    3. Rivalry between the two largest members: India and China carry an unresolved boundary dispute into every agenda, which limits how far the group can act as a bloc. Eg. Disengagement along the Line of Actual Control has proceeded patrol point by patrol point through bilateral talks, never through a BRICS channel.
      The Fix: Keep bilateral disputes on bilateral tracks and confine the BRICS agenda to finance, health, space and technology, where member interests converge.
    4. Expansion dilutes coherence: A grouping spanning democracies and autocracies finds shared positions on norms harder to draft as it grows. Eg. Full membership has moved from five states to eleven within two years.
      The Fix: Publish admission criteria tied to economic and functional contribution, so each addition does not further widen the range of positions to be reconciled.
    5. Dollar dependence persists: The group’s financial alternatives remain marginal against dollar clearing, so the autonomy claimed in declarations is not matched by settlement practice. Eg. The US dollar still settles over 80% of global trade.
      The Fix: Extend existing bilateral local currency settlement arrangements to the trade flows that already run a recurring surplus, rather than pursuing a common currency.

    Conclusion

    The standard applied to a plurilateral grouping decides what it is seen to be worth. Judged by settlements signed, a forum whose members are firing at one another will always read as a failure. Judged by whether hostile parties still meet inside it, Delhi did the one thing that was no longer available to the chair at Rio. What to watch is whether the channels opened at the summit produce a second Iran and UAE meeting away from a summit setting, and whether the next chair carries the same text forward rather than reopening it.

    About BRICS

    1. Origin: The acronym BRIC was coined in 2001 to group high growth emerging economies, the first foreign ministers’ meeting was held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, and the first leaders’ summit was held at Yekaterinburg in 2009.
    2. Membership: South Africa joined in 2011, expansion opened at the 2023 Johannesburg summit, and Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE joined in 2024 and Indonesia in 2025, taking full membership to eleven.
    3. Weight: Members account for over 45% of world population, roughly 37% of global Gross Domestic Product measured at purchasing power parity, which exceeds the G7 share, and about 42% of global oil production.
    4. Partner tier: A partner country category introduced in 2024 engages states such as Malaysia, Thailand and Nigeria without granting full membership.

    Schemes and Initiatives for BRICS

    1. New Development Bank (NDB): Headquartered in Shanghai, it finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member states and has approved over $35 billion in loans.
    2. Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA): A $100 billion pool providing short term liquidity support to members facing balance of payments pressure.
    3. BRICS Pay: A cross border payment system in pilot stage, intended to settle trade between members outside the SWIFT messaging network.
    4. BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre: Launched during the pandemic to facilitate technology transfer and vaccine access across members.
    5. Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR): A standing cooperation track on artificial intelligence, digitalisation and green technology.
    6. Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation: Six satellites contributed by member states sharing earth observation data for disaster management, alongside a BRICS Space Council set up in 2025 to coordinate deep space and lunar research.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    ““BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • Does the BRICS summit signify a shift for Indian foreign policy?

    Does the BRICS summit signify a shift for Indian foreign policy?

    Why in the News

    The New Delhi Declaration of 2026, adopted at the BRICS summit hosted by India, pushes back against unilateral western sanctions, criticises Israel over the killing of civilians, the attacks on Lebanon and the forced occupation of Palestinian territory, and supports United Nations reform together with a BRICS payment mechanism. The declaration has been likened to the foreign policy of India’s non aligned past. It is also the first BRICS declaration since 2022 to carry no reference to Ukraine. The tension is whether the text marks an actual shift in Indian foreign policy, or is multilateral language that a national position is not expected to follow.

    Is the New Delhi Declaration a return to non alignment?

    1. Continuity, not a shift: The declaration is in keeping with Indian foreign policy, whether that is described as strategic autonomy and multi alignment or as multi vector engagement. What has changed is optics, with India on the front foot and less apologetic about being emphatically part of a non western forum.
    2. Non alignment does not describe the present aim: Non alignment was a strategy for a weak state in a bipolar world. The declared ambition in India today is to become one of the poles in a multipolar world.
    3. The Bandung reference: The declaration invokes the Bandung Spirit in pursuit of a fairer, more inclusive and representative multilateral system. On the second reading that invocation is nostalgia rather than operative policy.
    4. What the platform is: BRICS is a political platform and not a security platform, so a declaration adopted in it cannot commit a member to anything it would not do bilaterally.

    What did the summit’s optics carry, and what did they not?

    1. A return after seven years: The Chinese President had not travelled to India in nearly seven years before this summit.
    2. Who else was at the table: The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince sat at the same table, and the outreach session brought in powers that do not otherwise enter great power conversations.
    3. Socialisation as the actual product: What the platform generated was contact inside it and on its margins rather than agreement, and that contact is not by itself shaping the world order.
    4. National positions expressly preserved: The declaration calls for exercising restraint and for protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure. It also pointedly recalls the respective national positions of each member.
    5. Why a multilateral text can go further than a national one: A country can say in a high level multilateral document what it will not say in a national statement. Eg. The phrase “unilateral coercive measures” is understood to mean US actions, without naming a measure or a date.

    Why did the declaration drop Ukraine?

    1. A break in precedent: Every BRICS summit declaration since 2022, including the 2024 summit held in Russia, carried a reference to Ukraine.
    2. Attributed to Russian insistence: The omission is attributed to a Russian veto exercised to preserve consensus. The Rio declaration last year had condemned a Ukrainian attack on Russia with no equivalent condemnation of anything Russia had done, and dropping the subject entirely replaced that one sided formulation.
    3. An error of omission: A major multilateral geopolitical forum that stays silent, rather than calling on the belligerents to end the war, has left the central question unaddressed.
    4. India’s own incentive: India had little reason to press for the language, having sided with the Russian Federation in this war indirectly if not directly.
    5. The option not taken: Neutral language on Ukraine was available on the precedent of the earlier joint declarations, and was not used.

    How does the Israel language sit with India’s bilateral position?

    1. The bilateral signal: The Prime Minister told the Israeli parliament during a visit in February 2026 that India stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Israel.
    2. The disjunction: The declaration’s condemnation of Israel is strong, which creates a clear break between the multilateral text and that bilateral statement. The text may be intended to counter the perception that India was drawing too close to Israel.
    3. Shelter in United Nations language: The declaration cites UN Security Council Resolution 2803 of November 2025, which provided for an International Stabilisation Force and a Board of Peace. Some of the declaration’s language is drawn from that resolution.
    4. No contradiction of settled policy: The two state solution has been India’s standing position, so the text does not contradict Indian policy on Palestine.
    5. The room shaped the text: With the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran and Indonesia at the table, there was a limit to how far India could push back against the harshness of the language.
    6. Where the balance actually sits: The partnership with Israel remains the weightier commitment, since a bilateral address to a parliament is consequential while a multilateral declaration is symbolic.

    What does the economic agenda amount to?

    1. The bloc’s weight: The grouping’s membership accounts for 40 percent of the global economy and 25 percent of global trade.
    2. Two different propositions in payments: India supports local currency payment mechanisms for bilateral trade. India has not supported a permanent payment mechanism operating under the BRICS umbrella.
    3. Why a common settlement currency is resisted: There is no single approach to currency settlement that suits every pair of trading partners. A non dollar mechanism would in practice elevate the next dominant currency, and on present weight that currency would be China’s.
    4. BRICS against the Group of Seven: BRICS is a counterpoint to the Group of Seven (G7), an economic grouping that also carries geopolitical responsibilities.
    5. India sits on both sides of that line: India is a standing invitee to the G7 along with Australia and South Korea. One proposal is that the G7 dissolve itself into a Democratic 10 (D10) including those three, with India as the bridge between east and west and a voice of the south.

    Where should India spend its diplomatic capital next?

    1. The immediate calendar: The ASEAN East Asia Summit in the Philippines falls in November. Visits by the Prime Minister to the United States, Canada and Brussels follow, with three trade agreements potentially in reach.
    2. Multi vector engagement as the method: The approach is to keep all stakeholders engaged in multiple directions at once rather than to choose a camp.
    3. Diplomatic capital is finite: India has only so much of it, so battles, forums and partners have to be picked rather than attended to uniformly.
    4. The rooms that will decide the next order: The forums framing global rules on artificial intelligence and the governance of space are where the next world order will be made, rather than a platform such as BRICS.

    Challenges to BRICS as a vehicle for Indian foreign policy

    1. The consensus rule produces silence: A single member’s objection removes a subject from the declaration altogether instead of producing balanced language. Eg. The complete absence of any reference to Ukraine from the New Delhi Declaration.
      The Fix: Issue a chair’s summary alongside the declaration, so positions that fail consensus are still on the record.
    2. Expansion dilutes coherence: Members with opposed interests make a common position harder to reach as the grouping grows. Eg. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined in 2024 and Indonesia in 2025.
      The Fix: Anchor the agenda in a small set of deliverables such as development finance, where the members’ interests already converge.
    3. Moving off the dollar substitutes one dependence for another: Replacing the dollar as a settlement currency hands the same structural leverage to whichever currency takes its place. Eg. The New Development Bank suspended new transactions in Russia in 2022 to protect its own access to international capital markets.
      The Fix: Expand bilateral local currency settlement arrangements rather than build a single common currency mechanism.
    4. The platform cannot handle its members’ own disputes: A grouping with no security function offers no channel for a conflict between two of its members. Eg. India and China are both members while their boundary dispute is handled entirely bilaterally.
      The Fix: Keep security questions in the bilateral and plurilateral formats built for them, and hold the grouping to economic and governance reform.
    5. Declarations carry no implementing mechanism: A position agreed in a summit text has no follow through between summits. Eg. Calls for Security Council reform recur in these declarations while two of the grouping’s own members do not support expanding permanent membership.
      The Fix: Attach a named working group and a reporting deadline to each declaration commitment.

    Conclusion

    The declaration reads as a shift and functions as a signal. What a grouping’s text says and what its members do bilaterally have been allowed to diverge, and India’s positions on Israel and on Russia both sit inside that gap. The unresolved question is whether multi vector engagement can keep both registers running once a partner insists on consistency between them. The next test is the sequence of bilateral visits and trade negotiations that follows the summit, where the same positions have to survive contact with a single counterpart.

    About BRICS

    1. Formation: The grouping began as BRIC, with Brazil, Russia, India and China holding their first leaders’ summit in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010 and the grouping became BRICS.
    2. Expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates were admitted as members in 2024, and Indonesia joined in 2025.
    3. New Development Bank: Agreed at the 2014 Fortaleza summit and headquartered in Shanghai, it finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member states and other developing countries.
    4. Contingent Reserve Arrangement: Also agreed in 2014, it is a currency swap framework members can draw on to meet short term balance of payments pressure.

    Back2Basics: Non-Aligned Movement

    1. Origin: The Bandung Conference of 1955 brought together Asian and African states and set out principles of sovereignty, non interference and peaceful coexistence.
    2. Founding: The Movement was formally established at the Belgrade Conference of 1961.
    3. Core idea: Member states declined formal military alignment with either Cold War bloc while retaining the freedom to engage both.
    4. India’s role: India was among its founding members and hosted the seventh summit at New Delhi in 1983.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10] “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • Currency conundrum

    Why in the News

    The BRICS New Delhi Declaration records only incremental progress on local currency trade. Its paragraph on the subject acknowledges the efforts of various task forces and committees and offers no concrete proposal. The Declaration promotes local currency trade “while respecting national priorities and acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all approach”, which is the language of a member that wanted its reservations placed on record. India’s rupee trade with its BRICS partners is limited to the United Arab Emirates and Russia, and even those volumes are small. The tension is that India gains from being paid in dollars as an exporter and from paying in cheaper local currencies as an importer, and it cannot hold both positions indefinitely.

    What is local currency trade settlement?

    1. Definition: Local currency trade settlement is the invoicing and payment of a cross border transaction in the currency of one of the two trading countries, rather than in a third currency such as the dollar. The exporter is paid in a currency that one of the two governments issues.
    2. Mechanism: The importing country’s bank credits the exporting country’s currency into a designated account held with a bank in the exporter’s country. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) operationalised this for India in July 2022 through Special Rupee Vostro Accounts, which hold a foreign bank’s rupee balances for settling trade.
    3. What it does not do: Settlement in a local currency changes the unit of account for a transaction and creates no new common currency and no shared central bank. The parties still have to agree an exchange rate and find uses for the balances that accumulate.

    Where does India’s rupee trade actually stand?

    1. Two partners only: Within BRICS, only the United Arab Emirates and Russia are engaged in rupee trade with India. The volumes involved are relatively small.
    2. Russia’s surplus problem: Russia struggled to dispose of the rupees it was accumulating from its exports to India. A surplus holder that cannot spend or invest a currency has no reason to keep accepting it.
    3. A partial opening: Some avenues have opened, with Russia importing petroleum products from India after Ukraine’s attacks on its refining capacity. That flow is small against the size of the bilateral trade imbalance.
    4. A third currency as ‘local’: Another option is to treat any BRICS currency as local. India has already been using the UAE Dirham to pay for Russian oil, which sidesteps the dollar without using the rupee.

    Why is this not a simple choice for India?

    1. The exporter’s interest: India would prefer to continue being paid for its exports in dollars. A depreciating rupee means every dollar received converts into a larger rupee amount, and a country pushing exports wants to retain that advantage.
    2. The importer’s interest: India is also a major importer, and it would prefer to pay in relatively cheaper local currencies. The two preferences point in opposite directions on the same policy.
    3. The choice is deferred, not avoided: A country cannot indefinitely invoice its exports in one currency and its imports in another without its partners noticing the asymmetry. India will eventually have to settle which of the two interests governs.

    Why does China’s share turn this into a question about the yuan?

    1. Concentration of BRICS trade: China accounts for about two-thirds of all BRICS exports. Local currency trade across the grouping will therefore largely be trade in the yuan.
    2. Political reluctance: Relations with China are thawing, and India would still be reluctant to conduct its business in the yuan. A settlement currency creates a standing dependence on the issuing country’s banking system and payment rails.
    3. Why the general language matters: A grouping whose largest exporter issues the default settlement currency cannot offer a single formula that suits every member. The Declaration’s rejection of a one-size-fits-all approach is the recorded consequence of that arithmetic.

    How does local currency trade differ from a BRICS currency?

    1. Local currency trade: This is a bilateral settlement arrangement between two members, with no common issuer. India has been cautiously supportive of it.
    2. A BRICS currency: This would be a shared unit requiring a common issuer, a reserve pool and agreed rules of issuance. India has been vocal in opposing it, largely because China would likely dominate such a currency.
    3. The external cost: The United States President has threatened 100% tariffs on countries adopting a BRICS currency. India has taken a pragmatic approach in dealing with the United States and will not court such tariff threats lightly.
    4. Different motivations across members: Countries such as Iran and Russia have pressing reasons to move away from the dollar, both being under extensive sanctions. India does not have a comparable compulsion, and the Declaration reflects that difference.

    Challenges to local currency trade in BRICS

    1. Limited convertibility of the rupee: The rupee is not fully convertible on the capital account, so a partner accumulating rupee balances has few assets to park them in. Eg. Russian banks accumulated rupee balances in Special Rupee Vostro Accounts that they could not deploy at scale.
      The Fix: Widen the permitted investment avenues for vostro balances, including government securities and corporate debt, so a surplus holder has a yield bearing use for them.
    2. Structural trade imbalance: Settlement currency follows the direction of the surplus, and a partner running a persistent surplus with India will not accept rupees indefinitely. Eg. India’s oil imports from Russia are far larger than its exports to Russia.
      The Fix: Pair settlement arrangements with targeted market access for the partner’s goods, so the imbalance narrows rather than being financed.
    3. Thin currency markets and hedging costs: Direct rupee to partner currency markets are shallow, so exchange rates are volatile and forward cover is expensive. Eg. Exporters settling in a partner currency carry a risk that a dollar contract would have passed to the market.
      The Fix: Build reference rate mechanisms and a bank led forward market for the main partner currency pairs before volumes are scaled up.
    4. Secondary sanctions and payment channel risk: Banks handling settlement for a sanctioned partner risk losing access to dollar clearing, so large lenders stay out and the business shifts to small institutions. Eg. Several Indian banks limited Russia related settlement business rather than risk their correspondent relationships.
      The Fix: Route sanctioned trade through designated institutions with no dollar clearing exposure, keeping the wider banking system insulated.
    5. Domestic monetary consequences: A widening use of the rupee abroad transmits offshore demand into the domestic money market and complicates exchange rate management. Eg. The RBI has intervened repeatedly to contain rupee volatility during periods of capital outflow.
      The Fix: Sequence internationalisation against clearly stated convertibility milestones, so the external use of the rupee grows with the depth of the domestic market rather than ahead of it.

    Conclusion

    India supports settlement in local currencies and opposes a common BRICS currency, and the New Delhi Declaration carries both positions without reconciling them. The reason is not drafting: the grouping’s trade runs through one member, and a shared settlement currency would hand that member the instrument. What India lacks is the compulsion its partners have, so its de-dollarisation is a hedge rather than a strategy. The unresolved point is whether India can keep collecting export receipts in dollars while asking its partners to accept rupees for the goods it buys.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    ““BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • After BRICS, it’s time to navigate the realities of great power rivalries

    Why in the News

    China now accounts for roughly three fifths of the combined Gross Domestic Product of the eleven member BRICS grouping, against less than half of the four member BRIC forum’s output when it was formed in 2006. The United States has moved the same way inside the G7, from less than two fifths of that group’s nominal output three decades ago to close to three fifths now. The BRICS summit in New Delhi closed with multipolarity as its stated theme, and the Chinese President travels to Washington next week for a second meeting with the US President this year. The tension is between a declared multipolar order and a measured concentration of economic weight in two states.

    What do a G2 and a G3 order describe?

    1. G2: It describes a world order managed in effect by the United States and China, on the ground that they are the only two states with the scale to shape economic order, technology standards and supply chains.
    2. G3: It describes the same arrangement with Russia admitted as a third manager, on the strength of its military power and its reach across Eurasia rather than its economic size.
    3. Neither is an institution: Both are descriptions of where decisions are actually taken. Neither has a charter, a secretariat or a membership list.
    4. Agreement is not implied: A G2 does not mean the two agree. It means their disagreements set the terms everyone else operates under.

    Why has economic weight concentrated inside BRICS and the G7?

    1. Enlargement did not dilute: BRICS grew from four members to eleven, and China’s share of the group’s output rose across the same period rather than falling.
    2. Beijing outgrows its own grouping: China continues to gain in economic size and geopolitical influence faster than the forum it sits in.
    3. What widened the G7 gap: Japan’s stagnation, Europe’s weaker growth and its demographic pressures, together with American advantages in energy, capital markets and artificial intelligence, account for the shift.
    4. Preponderance underwrites alliance behaviour: American willingness to turn harshly on its closest partners rests in part on that expanding economic weight. Eg. Pressure applied to Canada and Britain, and to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU).

    Why must Washington and Beijing manage the rivalry, and where does Russia fit?

    1. Mutual dependence: Each seeks to reduce its vulnerability to the other, and neither can readily escape the other’s market, technology, capital or industrial capacity.
    2. No condominium: The disputes over trade, technology and Taiwan are too deep for the two to divide the world between them.
    3. Management rather than settlement: The meetings rest on a recognition that the rivalry has to be handled through sustained high level contact.
    4. The calendar of contact: A Washington meeting next week is expected to be followed by another on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, and the United States hosts the annual G20 summit in Miami in December.
    5. Russia’s residual weight: Russia is economically diminished and still holds enough military power, geographical reach and diplomatic weight to influence the balance between the two across Eurasia.
    6. Moscow’s alignment: Moscow has drawn Beijing closer than ever before, while Washington has made an overture to Russia.
    7. What would produce a G3: Progress in the American peace initiative on Ukraine could open a rapprochement with Moscow, a trilateral summit and a Russian presence at the G20. The conflict between Moscow and Europe over Ukraine is what complicates it.

    What does the concentration do to the G20?

    1. Its distinguishing membership: Unlike the G7 it includes China, Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Unlike BRICS it includes the United States, Europe and Japan.
    2. Why that composition mattered: That mix is what made the G20 the one forum plausibly capable of collective action on the global economy.
    3. The failure this month: Differences between the United States and China at the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Washington prevented the forum from issuing a joint statement.
    4. The point of objection: China objected to the language on trade surpluses and export led growth.
    5. The second way it loses: Bilateral deal making between Washington and Beijing can come at the expense of the other members, so the forum is diminished whether the two disagree or agree.

    What does this mean for India’s multipolarity claim?

    1. The stated preference: A multipolar order is Delhi’s declared objective, and the Delhi summit was organised around that theme.
    2. The measured position: Multipolarity has not arrived, and the distribution of power is arguably moving away from it rather than towards it.
    3. What the forums actually do: APEC, BRICS, the EU, the G7 and NATO do not shape world order. They operate within parameters set by great power politics.
    4. Where a summit still earns its cost: Collective progress at these annual gatherings is rare, and their value lies in the bilateral meetings held on their margins. Eg. The attempted reset of India China relations by the Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President at the Delhi summit.
    5. The task that follows: Indian foreign policy has to work the rivalry between Washington, Beijing and Moscow as it stands, rather than the order it would prefer.

    Challenges to BRICS as a vehicle for multipolarity

    1. One member carries most of the group’s weight: A grouping in which a single economy supplies the bulk of the output cannot easily adopt positions that constrain that economy. Eg. The New Development Bank still raises and lends predominantly in United States dollars, which limits how far it reduces members’ dependence on the dollar system.
      The Fix: Cap any single member’s share of the capital of BRICS institutions, so financial weight does not convert directly into agenda control.
    2. No mechanism for the members’ own disputes: The grouping holds members with live bilateral disputes and has no standing machinery to address them. Eg. The India China boundary question was taken up on the margins of the Delhi summit rather than by the grouping itself.
      The Fix: Keep the collective agenda to functional cooperation where members already converge, and route bilateral disputes to dedicated bilateral channels.
    3. Enlargement thins the common interest: Each addition widens the range of national interests the text must accommodate, which makes the agreed language weaker. Eg. The grouping now holds states closely aligned with Washington on security alongside states in open confrontation with it.
      The Fix: Adopt a concentric design, with a core membership taking binding commitments and partner states joining specific projects.
    4. Declarations carry no implementation machinery: The grouping issues an annual declaration and has no permanent secretariat to carry it forward or to report on it. Eg. Its commitment on pathways for plurilateral initiatives at the WTO binds no member to any act.
      The Fix: Create a standing secretariat that publishes, before each summit, what the previous declaration’s commitments actually produced.
    5. Payment ambitions outrun financial capacity: Reducing dependence on the dollar requires deep local currency bond markets and open capital accounts, which most members do not have. Eg. Russian exporters accumulated rupee balances they could not readily deploy once bilateral trade was settled in national currencies.
      The Fix: Build settlement capacity around a payment messaging link and local currency clearing for trade pairs that are already close to balanced, rather than around a common currency.

    Conclusion

    The question is no longer whether the world is multipolar, but whether the forums India invests in can act at all when the two largest economies disagree. On present evidence they cannot, and the decisions that matter are taken in bilateral rooms India does not sit in. That leaves an unresolved gap between the order Delhi argues for and the order it has to operate inside. The thing to watch is whether a trilateral meeting convenes on the margins of the APEC summit, since that format would confirm that the management of world order has moved outside the multilateral bodies.

    Back2Basics: G7

    1. Nature: It is an informal grouping of advanced economies that coordinates on economic and security policy, with no treaty basis and no permanent secretariat.
    2. Membership: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the European Union taking part in its meetings.
    3. Origin: It began as a finance ministers’ grouping in the 1970s and became an annual leaders’ summit, with the presidency rotating each year.
    4. Russia’s place: Russia joined to make it the G8 in 1997 and was suspended in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    ““BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • How India should view China’s ‘open’ AI pitch

    How India should view China’s ‘open’ AI pitch

    Why in the News

    China has offered to lead the creation of a BRICS open source artificial intelligence (AI) community, along with a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, support for cooperation on large language models and a programme of AI training. The offer was made by the Chinese President at the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The New Delhi Declaration issued after the summit mentions neither the community nor the cloud platform, and commits members instead to broader cooperation on improving access to AI resources. The pitch positions Chinese AI technology as an alternative to proprietary systems controlled largely by companies in the United States. For India the question is whether a grouping wide platform led by Beijing widens access to AI for developing countries or routes that access through a single supplier.

    What is the proposed BRICS AI open source community?

    1. China in the lead: China would take the lead in setting up the community.
    2. Model cooperation: It would support cooperation among members on developing and deploying large language models (LLMs), systems trained on very large text collections to generate and interpret language.
    3. Training and seminars: It would run specialised AI seminars and training courses, described as building an open AI ecosystem.
    4. Cloud platform and adjacent areas: A BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform was proposed alongside it, with expanded cooperation on digital skills, technology exchanges and intelligent manufacturing.

    Why is China making this pitch to developing countries now?

    1. An alternative to proprietary systems: The initiative widens Beijing’s effort to position its AI technology against systems controlled largely by companies in the United States.
    2. Commitments already made: At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July, 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities for developing countries over five years were announced.
    3. Cooperation centres: AI application cooperation centres were proposed with groupings including BRICS, ASEAN and the African Union.
    4. A contest for the Global South: Both India and China aspire to be the leading voice of the Global South, and Beijing holds a clear edge in AI capabilities.

    What is open source artificial intelligence?

    1. Open weights and code: A model released under a licence that lets others run, modify and redistribute it.
    2. Contrast with a proprietary system: A proprietary model’s weights stay with the vendor and are reached only through an interface the vendor controls and prices.
    3. Why it bears on access: A released model can be run on a user’s own hardware, which removes the need to buy access from the developer for every use.
    4. Limits of the label: Openness of weights does not always extend to the training data or to the terms on which the model may be used commercially.

    Why was the proposal not adopted by the grouping?

    1. The declaration is silent: The New Delhi Declaration does not mention the proposed open source community or the cloud platform.
    2. What it commits to instead: Members are committed more broadly to cooperation on improving access to AI resources, with a focus on safety, security, reliability and inclusiveness.
    3. Existing text carried forward: The declaration refers to an earlier BRICS statement on global AI governance and records that members will continue cooperation in the area.
    4. The proposal can return: China takes over the BRICS chairship in 2027 and could place the proposals before the grouping again.

    What is India’s own position on access to AI?

    1. The access demand: At the AI Impact Summit earlier this year India pushed for broader access to compute, datasets, models and other AI infrastructure, particularly for developing countries.
    2. Domestic capacity: The IndiaAI Mission funds subsidised compute infrastructure and supports Indian foundation models and datasets.
    3. The two run alongside each other: Any eventual BRICS programme on models or cloud infrastructure would sit next to India’s own effort to expand access without relying entirely on foreign providers.

    Challenges to a BRICS platform for open source AI

    1. Compute is the binding constraint, not model access: Releasing model weights does not give a developing country the accelerators or the electricity to train or serve them at scale. Eg. Advanced AI accelerators are subject to United States export controls that reach third countries.
      The Fix: Pair any model sharing commitment with pooled access to compute capacity physically located in member countries.
    2. Dependence on one member’s technology stack: A cloud platform built and operated by a single member leaves participants dependent on that member’s chips, software and terms of service. Eg. Huawei’s Ascend accelerators and their accompanying software stack underpin much of China’s domestic AI infrastructure.
      The Fix: Require any BRICS platform to expose hardware neutral interfaces, so a workload can be moved to another member’s infrastructure.
    3. Divergent data governance among members: Members differ on cross border data transfer and on state access to data, which blocks a shared dataset pool. Eg. India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 sets its own regime for transfers outside the country.
      The Fix: Begin with model and training cooperation and leave datasets to bilateral arrangements until a common transfer standard exists.
    4. Language and content coverage: A model released by any one member carries that member’s language priorities, so coverage of other members’ languages stays thin. Eg. Indian language performance in globally released models lags their performance in English.
      The Fix: Make a language corpus contribution from each member a condition of participation in the community.
    5. Safety obligations left unattached to release: An open release removes the developer’s ability to withdraw a model later found unsafe, because copies already exist. Eg. Once weights are downloaded and mirrored, a subsequent restriction cannot reach the copies in circulation.
      The Fix: Attach an evaluation and disclosure requirement at the point of release rather than relying on a recall mechanism afterwards.

    Conclusion

    Access to AI is being contested as a question of who supplies it, not of whether it should be shared. An offer to open the models while owning the platform beneath them widens use without widening capability, and that is the distinction India has to hold on to. What to watch is whether the grouping’s next chair converts the access language already agreed into a commitment on compute, or leaves it as a statement of intent.

    Back2Basics: IndiaAI Mission

    1. A national mission under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, approved in 2024.
    2. Built around seven pillars, including IndiaAI Compute Capacity, the IndiaAI Innovation Centre and the IndiaAI Datasets Platform.
    3. Its compute pillar subsidises access to graphics processing units for startups, researchers and public institutions.
    4. Its remaining pillars cover application development, skilling, startup financing and safe and trusted AI.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • BRICS backs an Expert Group on Traditional Medicine [Examples]

    Why in News

    BRICS members agreed to support an Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine and called for cooperation grounded in evidence. AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, the traditional and complementary systems of medicine promoted by the Ministry of AYUSH.

    Core facts

    The outcome advances a standing BRICS track on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM). The proposed expert group aims to build a shared, evidence based approach to traditional medicine across member states. The nodal ministry on the Indian side is the Ministry of AYUSH.

    Static Context

    India hosts the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Traditional Medicine Centre at Jamnagar, Gujarat, established under a host country agreement with the WHO. The Ministry of AYUSH signed a project collaboration agreement with the WHO on traditional and complementary medicine. Traditional medicine cooperation is a recurring instrument of India’s health diplomacy within plurilateral groupings.

    Prelims angle

    Remember the full form of AYUSH, the location of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre at Jamnagar, and that BRICS runs sectoral working groups beyond trade and finance.

    Mains angle

    GS2, groupings and India’s soft power. Useful as an illustration of how India uses sectoral cooperation within BRICS to project traditional knowledge systems and health diplomacy.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files for traditional medicine cooperation. Closest tracked Microthemes are GroupingsXRegional (International Relations) for the BRICS dimension and SchemeXHealth (Governance) for the health systems dimension.”

    PIB Link

    https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2309695&reg=3&lang=1

  • 18th BRICS Summit concludes in New Delhi with the New Delhi Declaration

    Why in News

    The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September 2026 under India’s BRICS Chairship. The grouping adopted the New Delhi Declaration on 12 September 2026.

    Core facts

    BRICS is a plurilateral grouping originally of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, now expanded to 11 members. India’s presidency theme is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. The PIB Backgrounder records the bloc’s weight as 49.5% of global population, 40% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 26% of global trade. Named institutional outcomes across ministerial tracks include a BRICS Centre of Excellence on Agro Ecology and a Digital Agriculture Network, a BRICS Mission for Healthy Lifestyle (2026 to 2029), BRICS CONNECT for Skilling, a Smart Grids and Energy Storage Digital Centre of Excellence, an MSME Cooperation Portal, a Startup Innovation Fund and a Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework. Alongside the summit, the BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition at Bharat Mandapam showcased 37 Indian deep technology startups.

    Static Context

    The first BRICS summit was held in 2009 at Yekaterinburg, Russia, as BRIC. South Africa joined in 2010, making it BRICS. The bloc runs the New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a currency swap facility for members facing balance of payments pressure. The 2014 Fortaleza Declaration established the NDB. India previously chaired the grouping in 2012, 2016 and 2021. Membership expansion has added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia in recent cycles, with a separate partner country category.

    Prelims angle

    Track the host city and chair of each recent summit, the members added in the latest expansion, the theme wording, and the two BRICS institutions (NDB and CRA) with their headquarters and functions. Fortaleza links to the NDB.

    Mains angle

    GS2, groupings involving or affecting India. Frame BRICS as a counterweight in global governance that amplifies the Global South, its role in multilateral reform, and the friction between expansion and cohesion. India’s bilateral engagements with African and Global South leaders on the summit sidelines illustrate the outreach dimension.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2025] Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS:
    I. The 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan.
    II. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS.
    III. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
    (a) I and II
    (b) II and III
    (c) I and III
    (d) I only
    Answer: (a)”

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South. Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

    PIB Link

    https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2309642&reg=3&lang=1 and the BRICS PIB Backgrounder https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=159946&ModuleId=3&reg=3&lang=1

  • PM Modi flags weaponisation of technology and critical minerals

    Why in the News

    Closing the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, the Prime Minister warned that the weaponisation of technology and of access to critical minerals can hinder the grouping’s shared progress, and set against it a commitment to inclusivity in the adoption of technology. The summit ran under the theme “Resilience, cooperation and sustainability” and issued the New Delhi Declaration, and India used its chair position to launch a set of standing mechanisms covering disease surveillance, disaster data, logistics, startup finance, small enterprise linkage and clean energy. The stated framing was that as BRICS enters its third decade the world expects concrete results from it rather than “merely ideas and commitments”. The tension inside the summit is that the members diagnosing the same problem, an order that disadvantages them, arrived with different remedies, from India’s delivery mechanisms to Russia’s sanctions workarounds and China’s call to rally the Global South.

    What did India’s chair position argue?

    1. Weaponisation of technology and critical minerals: Technology and access to critical minerals can both be used as instruments of pressure, and that use obstructs the development of the grouping’s members.
    2. Inclusivity in technology adoption: Inclusivity in the adoption of technology was placed as the answer, meaning access on terms that do not depend on the supplier’s political posture.
    3. Rising number of global conflicts: The rising number of global conflicts has an increasingly negative and far reaching effect on the lives of ordinary people.
    4. Resilience as the organising idea: Pandemics, climate disasters and supply chain disruptions have all shown that no crisis stays confined to one region, so the work was framed around identifying challenges in time, being prepared and acting promptly.
    5. The delivery test for the third decade: Entering its third decade, BRICS is expected to produce concrete results rather than ideas and commitments.

    What new BRICS mechanisms were announced?

    1. BRICS Integrated Early Warning System: Agreed for the prevention of and response to infectious diseases.
    2. Early Warning Data Integration Guidelines: Prepared for disaster management across member states.
    3. BRICS Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework: Intended to make member supply chains more reliable and resilient.
    4. BRICS Incubator Network and BRICS Startup Innovation Fund: The network connects startups and incubators across member states, and the fund has been proposed to back innovative and scalable solutions.
    5. BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture: Connects artificial intelligence, geospatial technology and Digital Public Infrastructure, meaning shared open digital platforms for identity, payments and data exchange, to the working needs of farmers.
    6. BRICS CONNECT: Aimed at skills, employability, women in the workforce, social security and capacity building.
    7. BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal: Set up to link small enterprises to knowledge, finance and new markets.
    8. BRICS Urban Mobility Hub: Established to share urban transport practices between member cities.
    9. BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence: Established for smart grids and energy storage under the sustainability pillar of India’s strategy for the grouping.
    10. Agriculture and climate centres: Centres of Excellence for Agro Ecology and Regenerative Agriculture were set up, alongside agreed principles for community based climate adaptation that treat indigenous knowledge as a foundation for climate action.

    What did the other members put on the table?

    1. China called for rallying the Global South: The Chinese President urged BRICS to rally the Global South so that an increasingly volatile international order is “free from double standards”, and stated that the logic of might makes right does not hold.
    2. The norms China named: Global South countries were asked to defend sovereign equality, non interference in internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and to insist that international law applies to all.
    3. China’s five technology initiatives: An artificial intelligence open source community, an open ecosystem for artificial intelligence, a special economic zone partnership, a digital ecosystem cloud platform, and science and technology talent development.
    4. Russia proposed two instruments against sanctions: The Russian President proposed a BRICS insurance mechanism and a collaborative BRICS grain market, and noted the grouping has independent routes for moving capital, labour and technologies.
    5. The Western insurance bar on Russian crude: The G7, the European Union and the United Kingdom barred Western companies from insuring any ship carrying Russian crude unless the oil was bought at or below a specified price cap, which directly restricted Russian crude exports.
    6. The New Development Bank was cited as the working asset: The multilateral development bank established by BRICS is handling projects worth $140 billion.
    7. Iran pressed for national currency trade: The Iranian President argued that excessive dependence on existing financial and trade systems leaves emerging economies exposed to political shocks, backed expanded trade in national currencies and a strengthened New Development Bank, and said unilateral sanctions directly affect global food security.

    What did the New Delhi Declaration record?

    1. Historical racial injustice: The declaration took note of the racial injustice Africans have suffered historically.
    2. A new inequality instrument: It noted the Brazilian and South African plan to start an “international panel on inequality”.
    3. The historical frame invoked: It referred to decolonisation and to Asian African solidarity as displayed at the Bandung conference of 1955.
    4. The Gaza proceedings: It named the South Africa initiated legal process at the International Court of Justice against Israel over its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, recording that those proceedings reaffirmed Israel’s legal obligation to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

    Challenges to BRICS as a delivery platform

    1. Announced mechanisms have no compliance machinery behind them: A framework, a portal or a network created by summit declaration binds no member and carries no penalty for non participation. Eg. Eleven separate initiatives were announced in one closing session, none attached to a dated implementation milestone.
      The Fix: Attach each mechanism to a named lead member, a secretariat line and an annual reporting obligation to the next summit, so progress is recorded rather than assumed.
    2. The membership no longer shares an economic interest: An expanded grouping now contains net oil exporters and net importers, and sanctioned and unsanctioned economies, so a single position on trade or energy is difficult to reach. Eg. Russia’s proposals at this summit were sanctions workarounds, while other members trade freely with the economies imposing them.
      The Fix: Move substantive work to plurilateral coalitions of the willing inside BRICS, so a mechanism is not held to the pace of its least interested member.
    3. Two members carry an unresolved bilateral dispute: India and China sit inside the same grouping while an unsettled boundary question and a wide trade imbalance run between them. Eg. India’s trade deficit with China reached a record $112.6 billion in 2025-26.
      The Fix: Keep the grouping’s agenda to functional cooperation where the two members’ interests already align, such as disease surveillance and logistics, rather than to security coordination.
    4. The de dollarisation agenda outruns the settlement infrastructure: Trade in national currencies requires convertibility, a clearing arrangement and an accepted reserve asset, and the grouping has none of the three at scale. Eg. Iran’s call for expanded national currency trade rests on the New Development Bank, which is capitalised in a fraction of the size of the trade flows involved.
      The Fix: Build a bilateral local currency settlement network with published reference rates before pursuing a common instrument, so the mechanism follows the trade rather than preceding it.
    5. A larger grouping dilutes decision making: Expansion has raised the grouping’s representational claim while lowering the odds of consensus on anything contested. Eg. The grouping now runs to eleven members with a widening set of partner countries attending its summits.
      The Fix: Adopt a variable geometry rule under which an initiative proceeds with a stated minimum number of members rather than requiring unanimity.
    6. Critical mineral security cannot be built by declaration: Processing capacity, not deposits, is the choke point, and it is concentrated outside most of the membership. Eg. The summit warned against the weaponisation of access to critical minerals without announcing any joint processing or stockpiling arrangement.
      The Fix: Create a joint BRICS strategic reserve and a shared processing investment vehicle for named minerals, so the warning is backed by capacity.

    Conclusion

    India’s chair year has ended with a set of standing mechanisms rather than a communique alone, which is the specific test the chair set for the grouping at the opening of its third decade. Those mechanisms are administrative rather than binding, and each one now needs a host institution, a budget line and a reporting schedule before it can be judged. The markers to watch are whether the proposed Startup Innovation Fund is capitalised and whether the Integrated Early Warning System is stood up with named national focal points before the next summit, since those two are the initiatives that require money and institutional commitment rather than agreement alone.

    Back2Basics: New Development Bank

    1. New Development Bank: A multilateral development bank established by the BRICS countries to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member states and other emerging economies.
    2. Headquarters in Shanghai: Its headquarters is in Shanghai, and it operates regional offices in member countries.
    3. Equal shareholding among founders: Founding members hold equal shareholding, which distinguishes it from the weighted voting used by the Bretton Woods institutions.
    4. A project book of $140 billion: It is handling projects worth about $140 billion.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2025] Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS: I. The 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan. II. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS. III. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) I and II (b) II and III (c) I and III (d) I only ANSWER: (a)”

  • [12th September 2026] The Hindu OpED: A bigger BRICS, shaped by India’s vision

    [12th September 2026] The Hindu OpED: A bigger BRICS, shaped by India’s vision

    Question (2023, GS2): “‘Virus of Conflict is affecting the functioning of the SCO’. In the light of the above statement point out the role of India in mitigating problems.
    Linkage: This question directly mirrors the central tension of the New Delhi BRICS summit: holding a common line and delivering technical outputs when key member states are at war or experiencing severe conflict. It highlights India’s strategic role as a mediator and consensus-builder in multilateral forums

    Mentor Comment

    India has used its chairship of BRICS to convert the grouping’s agenda into a set of named functional outputs, and the New Delhi summit on 12 and 13 September 2026 is where those outputs are placed before the leaders. The chairship ran around 350 meetings across Indian cities, 22 of them at ministerial level, following the template India used for the G-20 Summit it hosted in New Delhi in 2023. India reframed the acronym around “building resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability”, and the deliverables track that framing: centres of excellence, a logistics framework, an enterprise portal and a set of research repositories. The grouping now carries 11 members and about 10 partner countries, and its collective output measured at purchasing power parity, meaning output adjusted for differences in domestic price levels, exceeds that of the G-7. The tension in the summit lies between the two things it is being asked to do at once, settle a set of technical cooperation outputs, and hold a common line among members several of whom are at war.

    Pillars of BRICS cooperation

    1. Political and security: The first pillar covers the grouping’s positions on conflicts, security cooperation and global governance questions.
    2. Finance and the economy: The second pillar covers trade, payments, development finance and economic cooperation among members.
    3. Culture and people-to-people exchanges: The third pillar covers education, health, skilling and social cooperation between member societies.
    4. Where India’s chairship agenda sits: The agenda India pursued relates more to the second and third pillars than to the first, since the leaders themselves settle the large geopolitical questions.

    Why is the Delhi summit a landmark?

    1. The backdrop: It takes place against geopolitical turbulence produced by a combination of forces, ongoing wars and conflicts, a breakdown in global governance, and the changing nature of global alliances.
    2. The grouping’s weight: BRICS now has 11 prominent members and about 10 partner countries, and its collective economic output in purchasing power parity terms outstrips that of the G-7, making it one of the largest and most important transcontinental groupings outside the West.
    3. The technology contest: Technological forces such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are being weaponised, with both great powers trying to win the battle for tech supremacy.

    How did India prepare for the chairship?

    1. The template: India followed the approach it had used for the 2023 G-20 Summit in New Delhi.
    2. The scale of the process: Around 350 meetings were conducted in cities across the country, with 22 held at the ministerial level.
    3. The stated focus: India announced that it would focus on “building resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability”, giving a new expansion to the BRICS acronym.
    4. The intent behind the framing: The reframing was used to refocus and recalibrate the BRICS agenda rather than to inherit the previous year’s priorities unchanged.

    What has the chairship delivered on resilience?

    1. A digital centre for grids and storage: The BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage was launched under India’s stewardship.
    2. A logistics framework: The BRICS Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework was adopted.
    3. Centres on farming systems: Centres of Excellence on Agro-Ecology and Regenerative Agriculture were established.
    4. What they are expected to do: Once operationalised, these initiatives are intended to provide the ballast that would make member economies genuinely resilient.

    What is on the innovation agenda?

    1. Capital for new firms: A start-up innovation fund and an incubator network were proposed.
    2. A digital public infrastructure repository: Members would pool digital public infrastructure, meaning the shared digital systems for identity, payments and data exchange that public services run on.
    3. A science and research repository: A common repository for scientific and research material was proposed alongside it.
    4. A plan for large research facilities: The action plan of the BRICS Working Group on research infrastructures and mega science projects sits within this pillar.
    5. Why pooling matters here: Members are not all at the same level of development in scientific research, so shared facilities and repositories are worth more to some members than to others.

    What does the cooperation pillar carry?

    1. Trade rules: Leaders are expected to endorse recommendations on revitalising the multilateral trading system.
    2. Health: A network of centres of excellence on mental wellness is to be welcomed by the leaders.
    3. Cities: A BRICS urbanisation forum is to be established.
    4. Women and digital access: Enhancing the digital capacity of women forms part of the recommendations.
    5. Skills and small enterprise: Cooperation is to be intensified in education and youth skilling, and through the BRICS Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Cooperation Portal.

    What does the sustainability agenda add?

    1. It continues the previous chair’s priority: Sustainability was the centrepiece of Brazil’s agenda in the preceding year, and India built on that base rather than replacing it.
    2. Land and forests: Combating desertification, and guidelines for disaster management and forest-fire preparedness, are specific areas of cooperation under this head.
    3. Aviation fuel: A BRICS forum on sustainable aviation fuels forms part of the agenda.
    4. Adaptation rather than mitigation: Advancing climate resilience through people-centric and community-based adaptation is included, which matters because international fora tend to focus almost exclusively on mitigation.

    Can a functional agenda hold when summit level geopolitics pulls the other way?

    1. The two tracks belong to different pillars: The chairship’s outputs sit in the economic and people-to-people pillars, and the large geopolitical questions are settled by the leaders under the first.
    2. The functional track is the more predictable of the two: Substantive outcomes appear assured on the strength of the ministerial and working group meetings already chaired, independent of what the leaders’ session produces.
    3. The caveat on the grouping: BRICS has to avoid being caught in geopolitical currents that are not of its own making and carry no strategic value for its members.
    4. Why it survives the contradiction: The grouping is now too large to be either ignored or allowed to fail, which gives members an interest in a working agenda even where they diverge politically.
    5. What it is ultimately for: The grouping helps members enhance their strategic options and push geopolitics towards a multipolar order, both of which are organising principles of India’s foreign policy.

    Challenges to India’s BRICS chairship agenda

    1. The deliverables are institutions without budgets: A centre of excellence, a framework and a portal each need a host, staff and recurring funding, none of which a one year chairship can commit on the group’s behalf. Eg. The BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre, announced in 2020, functions as a virtual network of national institutions rather than a staffed facility.
      The Fix: Attach each new centre to a named host institution with a member funded budget line recorded in the summit declaration.
    2. Repositories hold only what members choose to deposit: A digital public infrastructure repository and a science repository depend on voluntary contribution, and members operate under differing national data and procurement rules. Eg. Members’ identity and payment systems sit under separate data laws, so specifications and code are not equally shareable.
      The Fix: Settle a common licence and a deposit obligation for contributed material before the repositories open.
    3. A declaration carries no review of the last one: Outcomes are recorded as commitments in a communique, and no member reports against them the following year. Eg. The Rio declaration of July 2025 ran to 126 points with no implementation review attached to it.
      The Fix: Require the incoming chair to publish an implementation report against the previous declaration alongside the new one.
    4. The enterprise agenda needs a payments channel that is not yet working: An MSME portal and a start-up fund assume a listed supplier in one member country can be paid from another without routing through third currency correspondent banking. Eg. The grouping’s own cross border payment initiative remains at pilot stage.
      The Fix: Sequence the portal behind a working local currency settlement arrangement for the member pairs that already trade at scale.

    Conclusion

    The chairship’s output is a set of centres, frameworks, repositories and portals, and their value is decided after the summit closes rather than in its declaration. What converts an announced centre into a working institution is a host, a staff and a recurring budget, and none of those is a summit level decision. The grouping’s own design works against this, since priorities reset annually with the rotating chair and nothing obliges the next one to carry a predecessor’s working groups forward. What to watch is whether the declaration names a host institution and a funding source for the new centres, and whether the chair that follows India adopts the research infrastructure action plan rather than substituting its own themes.

    About BRICS

    1. What it started as: The acronym was coined in 2001 by a Goldman Sachs economist to identify a set of high growth emerging economies, and it was an investment category before it was a forum.
    2. How it became a grouping: The first meeting of Foreign Ministers took place on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, and the first formal Leaders’ Summit was held at Yekaterinburg in Russia in 2009.
    3. How it expanded: South Africa joined in 2011. The 2023 Johannesburg Summit opened membership further, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joining in 2024 and Indonesia in 2025.
    4. The partner tier: A Partner Country category was introduced in 2024 to engage states such as Malaysia, Thailand and Nigeria without conferring full membership.

    Institutions and Initiatives of BRICS

    1. New Development Bank: Headquartered in Shanghai, it lends for infrastructure and sustainable development, and has approved over $35 billion in loans.
    2. Contingent Reserve Arrangement: A $100 billion pool of member foreign exchange reserves providing short term liquidity support to a member under balance of payments pressure.
    3. BRICS Pay: A cross border payment initiative intended to settle trade among members in local currencies rather than through existing dollar based messaging channels.
    4. Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation: Six satellites contributed by member states, sharing earth observation data for disaster management and resource monitoring.

    Key Facts about BRICS

    1. Population weight: The grouping represents over 45 per cent of the world’s population, about 3.6 billion people.
    2. Energy weight: Members account for roughly 42 per cent of global oil production and exports, which is what the inclusion of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates added to the bloc.

    Challenges in BRICS

    1. Consensus across 11 members with different political systems: A joint declaration needs every member’s assent, so the text settles at the level the most reluctant member accepts. Eg. Declarations avoid language on human rights and democratic norms, since the membership spans elected governments and authoritarian ones.
      The Fix: Adopt a variable geometry, letting a subset of willing members carry an initiative under the BRICS name without requiring unanimity.
    2. One member’s economic weight shapes the agenda: China’s size gives it disproportionate influence over what the grouping prioritises and whom it admits. Eg. It has pushed for the inclusion of states carrying heavy Chinese debt exposure, which would tilt the bloc towards a China centred platform.
      The Fix: Publish membership criteria weighted to economic complementarity and regional balance rather than to any single member’s sponsorship.
    3. Reducing dollar dependence moves slower than the rhetoric: Settlement habits, contract law and reserve holdings all favour the incumbent currency. Eg. The US dollar still settles over 80 per cent of global trade.
      The Fix: Target local currency invoicing on the bilateral pairs that already have settlement arrangements, rather than pursuing a common currency.
    4. There is no permanent secretariat or charter: Each chair runs the calendar from its own foreign ministry, so institutional memory travels out with the chair. Eg. Working group records and unfinished action plans are held by the outgoing chair rather than by the grouping.
      The Fix: Create a small standing secretariat funded by member contributions to hold working group records and track commitments between summits.
    5. Trade within the bloc remains thin: Members trade more with the industrialised economies than with each other, which limits what economic cooperation can deliver. Eg. Most members still rely on G7 markets for high technology imports and for services exports.
      The Fix: Negotiate a tariff preference schedule among members on a limited list of manufactured goods, which is achievable without a full trade agreement.
  • BRICS: evolution, cooperation and India’s leadership ahead of the 18th Summit

    BRICS: evolution, cooperation and India’s leadership ahead of the 18th Summit

    Why in News

    India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit on 12 to 13 September 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies.

    Current stage and next milestone

    India chairs BRICS for the fourth time in 2026. The leaders’ sessions run on 12 to 13 September 2026. The chairship has already run over 350 ministerial meetings across 25 cities.

    Core facts

    1. Origin: The acronym BRIC was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs. It projected Brazil, Russia, India and China as future major economies.
    2. Formation: South Africa joined in 2010, forming BRICS.
    3. Membership now: The grouping has 11 full members: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. A Partner Country framework adds ten more nations.
    4. Weight: Members hold 49.5% of global population, 40% of global Gross Domestic Product and 26% of global trade.
    5. India’s chairships: They occurred in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2026.
    6. Theme 2026: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.
    7. Three pillars: Political and security cooperation, economic and financial cooperation, and cultural exchanges.
    8. 2026 agenda: Agriculture, health, urban infrastructure, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, supply chains and climate resilience.

    Static Context

    1. The New Development Bank (NDB) is the BRICS development bank. It was set up at the 6th Summit via the Fortaleza Declaration of 2014. Its headquarters is in Shanghai.
    2. The Contingent Reserve Arrangement is the BRICS currency swap framework for balance of payments support.
    3. The 16th Summit was held at Kazan, Russia, in 2024. The latest expansion admitted Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

    Prelims angle

    NDB headquarters at Shanghai and its Fortaleza Declaration origin; BRICS membership list and the 11 member count; India’s chairship years; the NDB is a BRICS body, not an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation body.

    Mains angle

    GS Paper 2, global groupings affecting India’s interests. BRICS suits a question on its role as a counterweight in global governance and a platform for the Global South.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2025] Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS:
    I. The 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan.
    II. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS.
    III. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
    (a) I and II
    (b) II and III
    (c) I and III
    (d) I only
    Answer: (a)”

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”