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The 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13 arrives at a moment when the economic significance of the multilateral grouping from Global South countries is expanding faster than its institutional structure. The summit brings together an enlarged 11-member BRICS at a time of geopolitical conflict, energy disruption, trade tensions and renewed concern about the resilience of global supply chains.
India’s 2026 chairmanship, its fourth after 2012, 2016 and 2021, has been organised around the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, with “Humanity First” as its broader guiding principle. Since taking over the chair on January 1, India has conducted more than 350 meetings and high-level engagements across more than 25 Indian cities, covering political and security cooperation, economic and financial affairs, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The programme has extended across roughly 35 verticals, involving ministries, regulators, specialised agencies, customs authorities, auditors, parliamentarians, business organisations and think tanks.
The immediate question in New Delhi is therefore whether an organisation representing approximately 49.5% of the world’s population, around 40% of global GDP and nearly 26% of world trade can turn that aggregate economic weight into practical mechanisms for trade, investment, finance, technology, energy and connectivity.
The geopolitical background makes that task more urgent. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, the continuing West Asia and Middle East crisis, geopolitical concerns around the Strait of Hormuz, maritime-security risks, the safety of commercial vessels and seafarers, and disruptions to energy and supply chains have made resilience a central economic issue. India’s theme consequently has a distinctly economic interpretation. Resilience means reducing exposure to supply shocks; innovation means deploying digital and industrial technology; cooperation means connecting markets and institutions; and sustainability means ensuring that those connections survive geopolitical and economic volatility.
The Summit Agenda And Who’s Who In New Delhi
The first major closed-door session on September 12 is titled “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism.” Leaders will exchange views on reforming and strengthening multilateral institutions and making global governance more representative and inclusive, while also discussing major global and regional developments and matters of mutual interest.
These participants include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
The partner and outreach group expands the diplomatic geography further. Expected participants include Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Ugandan Vice-President Jessica Alupo, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The presence of these partner and outreach countries matters because BRICS is no longer simply a five-country economic grouping. It is becoming a wider platform connecting major Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Latin American economies.
They are also scheduled to visit the Bharat Innovates Exhibition. The September 13 open session is titled “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth.” It will bring together BRICS leaders, partner countries and outreach invitees to discuss the future direction of cooperation.
The summit is expected to conclude with the New Delhi Declaration, which should establish the political direction and record the principal commitments emerging from the meeting. The agenda also covers health and pandemic preparedness, agriculture and food security, energy security and stability, disaster-risk reduction, critical and strategic supply chains, cooperation against global economic shocks, trade and investment, connectivity, digital public infrastructure, advanced technologies and inclusive global governance.
There will also be several sideline meetings between the participating leaders. President Putin will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several participating Global South leaders. Several important developments are expected to take place during these meetings. We will cover these on this website.
The Economic Programme Begins Before The Leaders Meet
The leaders’ summit is being preceded by an unusually large business programme. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi on September 11, with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expected to address its opening. The business agenda focuses on agriculture, trade, investment, supply chains and the digital economy.
A large Chinese business delegation is expected, with participation from energy, banking, shipping and technology companies, including Huawei and Alibaba. Other prominent corporate participants include Embraer, Vale, Naspers, Russian Railways and Sberbank. The wider business programme is expected to involve around 1,000 foreign delegates. This is important because India’s chairmanship is attempting to move BRICS economic cooperation away from declarations between governments and toward transactions between companies.
BRICS Has Become A Major Economic System Without Becoming A Conventional Bloc
BRICS began as BRIC, bringing together Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006, after the term BRIC had been coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001. The first leaders’ summit took place in Yekaterinburg in 2009. South Africa joined in 2011. The second major transformation came in 2024, when Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined. Indonesia joined in 2025, creating today’s 11-member grouping: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The partner-country mechanism, created at the Kazan summit in 2024, has added another layer, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The expansion has changed BRICS from a relatively compact emerging-market grouping into a broader Global South platform spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Yet BRICS remains fundamentally different from a military or economic union. It has no common currency, no common tariff, no NATO-style defence treaty, no common military command and no supranational authority capable of compelling members to implement decisions. Its importance therefore lies in building parallel and complementary economic mechanisms while allowing members to retain strategic autonomy.
The Economic Numbers Explain The Political Ambition
Based on purchasing-power-parity calculations and 2026 IMF estimates, China represents approximately US$44.3 trillion, India US$18.9 trillion, Russia US$7.53 trillion, Indonesia US$5.45 trillion, Brazil US$5.23 trillion, Saudi Arabia US$2.89 trillion, Egypt US$2.57 trillion, Iran US$1.78 trillion, South Africa US$1.07 trillion, the UAE US$1.01 trillion and Ethiopia approximately US$559 billion.
Combined, that puts these eleven economies at worth about US$91 trillion in PPP terms. That is nearly three times the size of the United States economy (US$32.38 trillion) and close to four times larger than the European Union economy (US$23 trillion).
The growth distribution is equally revealing. India’s 2026 growth is around 6.5%, China’s approximately 4.6%, Indonesia’s about 5%, Brazil’s around 2.4%, Russia’s approximately 1.1%, South Africa’s about 1.1%, Saudi Arabia’s roughly 1.7%, the UAE’s around 3.1%, Egypt’s approximately 4.2-4.6%, Ethiopia’s about 9.2%, while Iran is facing a contraction of roughly 5.4-6.1%.
Each member brings a different economic asset. China contributes manufacturing, technology and finance; India combines rapid growth, a huge consumer market and digital public infrastructure; Russia contributes energy, minerals, nuclear, aerospace and defence technologies; Brazil contributes agriculture and commodities; Indonesia provides Southeast Asian manufacturing, resources and maritime access; Saudi Arabia and the UAE provide energy, capital and logistics; Egypt provides the Suez and Red Sea gateway; South Africa connects the grouping to Southern Africa; and Ethiopia brings one of the fastest growth rates in the grouping.
Economic Partnership Strategy 2030 Is The Central Deliverable
The most important expected economic outcome in New Delhi is the formalisation of the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy to 2030, extending the previous strategy beyond 2025. The strategy is intended to provide the long-term framework for trade facilitation, investment, technological cooperation, economic diversification and stronger value chains. The second major deliverable is the Global Value Chains Action Plan 2026-2030. This is potentially more important than a conventional trade declaration because BRICS economies collectively contain almost every major component of modern production. China provides industrial capacity and technology; India is expanding manufacturing and digital services; Russia supplies energy, fertilisers, minerals, nuclear and aerospace technologies; Brazil provides food and minerals; Indonesia provides manufacturing and commodities; and the Gulf states provide energy, finance and logistics. The objective is to connect these capabilities rather than allow intra-BRICS trade to remain concentrated in hydrocarbons, raw materials and finished manufactured goods.
MSMEs Could Determine Whether BRICS Becomes A Business Network
India has placed unusually strong emphasis on small and medium-sized companies. (MSME). The BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal, internationalisation measures, a finance dialogue and the proposed Invoice Discounting Mechanism under the Jaipur Consensus are intended to improve access to trade finance. Guiding principles for credit assessment of export-oriented MSMEs have also been developed. The inaugural BRICS MSME Forum was held in Agra on June 19, 2026, producing the report “Advancing MSME Competitiveness in BRICS: Strengthening Access to Finance & Technology and Sustainable Growth.”
The logic is straightforward: a US$91 trillion PPP economic grouping will have limited practical impact unless governments and major corporations can use its mechanisms. The BRICS Startup Innovation Fund is designed to create an institutional mechanism for governance, fund management and operations while mobilising voluntary public and private financing for scalable start-ups. The BRICS Incubator Network would create a digital interface linking national nodal agencies, incubators and start-ups. Together, these initiatives could create a new layer of BRICS business integration below the level of large state enterprises.
Digital Services: The New Trade Frontier
The BRICS Principles to Facilitate Digitally Delivered Services Across Borders add another dimension to economic integration. For India, this is especially significant because software, professional services, fintech and digitally delivered business services are among its strongest export capabilities. For China, it creates space for technology platforms and digital firms. For Russia, it creates opportunities in software, artificial intelligence, financial technology and industrial digitalisation. Digital cooperation also connects directly to BRICS work on digital public infrastructure, AI, data systems and smart industrial technologies.
Cross Border Payments: The Most Politically Sensitive Economic Issue
The effective destruction of a global payments system – two of the world’s top ten economies are cut off from SWIFT, while others have been threatened – means the financial agenda is likely to attract considerable attention because BRICS is moving toward payment interoperability rather than a single common currency. India has not made a common BRICS currency the objective. Instead, discussions focus on connecting fast-payment systems and exploring interoperability involving central-bank digital currencies.
The Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in August that several possibilities were under discussion, including CBDCs and linkages between fast-payment systems. Russia provides the clearest practical example. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said approximately 90% of Russia’s transactions with BRICS partners are now conducted in national currencies. For Moscow, this is about maintaining functioning trade channels when conventional financial systems become expensive, restricted or politically unavailable. It does not necessarily mean eliminating the dollar from global trade. The commercial objective is lower transaction costs, less currency-conversion friction and greater resilience.
The experience of China’s UnionPay and Brazil’s Pix also illustrates the possibilities for payment interoperability through QR-code and fast-payment technologies. The New Development Bank is the financial institution behind the idea The New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, remains BRICS’ most important multilateral financial institution. It has approved roughly US$40 billion in financing, supporting infrastructure and development projects across member economies.
Its portfolio includes renewable and clean-energy projects, transport infrastructure, roads, water systems and housing. Publicly reported project indicators include approximately 2,400 MW of renewable and clean-energy capacity, around 14.7 million tonnes of annual CO₂ emissions avoided, 35,000 housing units, about 1,400 kilometres of water tunnels and canals, approximately 40,400 kilometres of roads, 288,800 cubic metres per day of additional drinking-water capacity and increased annual airport passenger-handling capacity of around 104 million passengers. The next strategic phase is expected to place greater emphasis on local-currency financing, climate projects, non-sovereign lending and innovation. That matters because payment interoperability without project finance would leave BRICS financial cooperation incomplete.
Food Security Is Becoming Technology Security
Food security has moved to the centre of the BRICS economic agenda because geopolitical conflicts, climate shocks, fertiliser availability and shipping disruptions can rapidly translate into food-price volatility. India’s chairmanship has advanced the BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, combining AI, geospatial technologies, digital public infrastructure and data-driven farming.
The BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agro-Ecology and Regenerative Agriculture is intended to promote joint research, knowledge sharing and capacity building.
The Global Forum on Farmers’ Rights in Seed Systems, initially coordinated by India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, addresses another strategic issue: access to and protection of agricultural genetic resources.
The BRICS AGRIN, Agro-Inputs, Genetic Resources and Information Network, adds cooperation around agricultural inputs, genetic resources and information systems. These mechanisms show how food security is being treated not simply as a question of agricultural production but as an issue involving technology, data, seeds, logistics and supply chains.
Agriculture Becomes Technology
India’s chairmanship of BRICS has generated several practical agriculture initiatives. The BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agro-Ecology and Regenerative Agriculture is designed for joint research, knowledge sharing and capacity building around natural, organic and regenerative farming.
The BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture is designed to deepen cooperation in AI-driven decision-support systems, geospatial intelligence, IoT-enabled monitoring and advanced data analytics. It is initially coordinated by IIT Delhi. The BRICS AGRIN, Agro-Inputs, Genetic Resources and Information Network, is intended as a voluntary, farmer-centric framework covering seeds, germplasm and agricultural inputs. A Global Forum on Farmers’ Rights in Seed Systems is also being developed, initially coordinated by India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority. These initiatives give food security a technological dimension at a time when war, climate change, fertiliser shortages and shipping disruptions have increased the vulnerability of global food systems.
Energy Cooperation Goes Beyond Oil And Gas
BRICS contains major energy producers and some of the world’s largest energy-consuming economies. The current agenda therefore covers oil and gas but increasingly extends into nuclear power, renewable energy, storage and electricity systems. BRICS has adopted Guiding Principles on Energy Storage and Smart Grids and launched the BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage. The BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform has also had its terms of reference updated. A BRICS Photovoltaic Knowledge Portal and Solar PV Cooperation Roadmap further expand renewable-energy cooperation. The potential commercial result is a wider energy ecosystem involving equipment, technology, investment, electricity storage, grid management and renewable generation.
Russia’s Strong Economic Agenda
For Moscow, the New Delhi summit is inseparable from the rapidly expanding Russia-India economic relationship. Putin is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi on September 11, immediately before the BRICS summit. Their agenda is expected to cover trade, energy, defence, nuclear cooperation, technology, payments and connectivity. The two leaders last met on August 31 on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek. Russia-India trade already reached approximately US$70 billion while they have targeted US$100 billion by 2030. Energy remains the dominant component. Russian energy supplies to India have reached record monthly levels, while Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov has said Moscow is prepared to supply India with as much oil as it needs.
Vostok Oil Links Russia’s Arctic To India’s Energy Security
The most strategically important project is Vostok Oil. Four Indian state-owned companies, ONGC Videsh, Indian Oil, Oil India and Bharat Petro Resources, collectively hold a 49.9% stake in Vankorneft, connected to the wider project. Vostok Oil is targeting approximately 30 million tonnes of annual crude production by the second half of 2027. A 790-kilometre pipeline is planned to connect production with Bukhta Sever on the Kara Sea. The project involves approximately ₹4.4 lakh crore (US$46.1 billion)
In investment, more than 50,000 employees and around 16,280 machines and pieces of equipment. The crude has an exceptionally low sulphur content of approximately 0.01-0.1%. For India, the strategic importance is geographical as much as commercial. Arctic supply through the Kara Sea provides an alternative to routes exposed to the Strait of Hormuz.
Russian Coal And Critical Minerals Add Two More Pillars
Russian coal exports reached 20.6 million tonnes in June 2026, up 18% year-on-year, while January-June exports totalled 105.3 million tonnes, up 6%. India imported approximately 3.5 million tonnes of Russian coal in June, up 48% year-on-year. Indian companies SAIL and NMDC are evaluating Russian coking-coal assets, and India has considered increasing Russian coal imports by two to three times, depending on price and quality.
Critical minerals represent a newer stage of cooperation. In March 2026, GMDC and NMDC signed an MoU relating to the Ambadungar rare-earth deposit in Gujarat, estimated at 1.29 million tonnes of rare-earth elements. India has approved a ₹7,280 crore (US$762 million) programme supporting permanent-magnet production, while GMDC estimates approximately ₹3,000-4,000 crore (US$314-419 million) may be required across the value chain. Russia has offered India access to the Tomtor rare-earth deposit in Siberia, with Indian Rare Earths Limited evaluating samples. An August 2026 protocol under the India-Russia Working Group on Modernisation and Industrial Cooperation also advanced cooperation on critical minerals and lithium.
Defense Remains Bilateral, But Economically Important
BRICS itself is not a defense alliance. Nevertheless, Putin’s meeting with Modi will also be watched for developments in defence cooperation. Russia and India continue discussions on the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter, including possible technology transfer. Reports have suggested an Indian requirement of approximately 75 aircraft, with a potential package approaching ₹1 lakh crore,(US$10.5 billion) including weapons, training, spares and maintenance.
This should not be treated as a concluded contract. India’s $5.43 billion S-400 contract, signed in 2018 for five systems, has resulted in four deliveries, with the fifth expected in November 2026. Russia and India are also examining upgrades to BrahMos and further joint production. Russia accounted for around 40% of India’s major arms imports during 2021-25, down from 51% during the previous five-year period. Nuclear cooperation is equally significant. Russia is helping India develop six Kudankulam reactors in Tamil Nadu, with additional nuclear and advanced-technology cooperation under discussion.
INNOPROM Puts Factories Behind The Diplomacy
The timing of INNOPROM. India, held in New Delhi from September 9-11, immediately before the BRICS summit, was also significant. More than 120 Russian and Indian companies and organisations participated, while the broader platform included more than 200 exhibitors, over 10 business-programme events and more than 10,000 visitors.
Russian participants include Rostec, Rosatom, Roscosmos, United Aircraft Corporation, United Engine Corporation, Sber, Natsproektstroy, Transmashholding, RUSAL, PhosAgro, A7, Alfa-Bank, Russian Export Center and the Advanced Technology Development Center. Regional delegations come from Moscow, Tatarstan, Krasnodar Krai and Chelyabinsk Region.
Indian participants included SAIL, NMDC, MOIL, MECON, RVNL, Titagarh Rail Systems, Tata Power, ITC, KABIL and Central Electronics. Technologies on display included the PD-8 engine, MS-21, SJ-100 and Il-114-300 aircraft, VVER-1200 nuclear technology, a high-speed train for potential joint production, AI-agent platforms, optical computing, digital twins, industrial robots and transport-management systems. The central plenary, “Enhancing Russian-Indian Trade and Industrial Partnership: Towards Greater Self-Reliance,” brought together Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov and Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The message is unmistakable: economic diplomacy is being tested through aircraft, engines, reactors, railways, software, machinery, banks and mineral-processing projects.
China Remains The Economic Centre Of Gravity
China is the largest economy inside BRICS by a considerable margin, with approximately US$44.3 trillion in 2026 PPP GDP and growth around 4.4-4.6%. India follows with approximately US$18.9 trillion PPP GDP and growth of around 6.5%. Russia stands at approximately US$7.5 trillion, Indonesia around US$5.45 trillion and Brazil approximately US$5.2 trillion.
Chinese participation in the BRICS Business Forum is expected across energy, banking, shipping and technology, with CNPC, ICBC, Huawei and Alibaba among the prominent names. Other major participants expected in the wider business programme include First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Embraer.
China’s position is therefore indispensable but not sufficient to define BRICS. The organisation combines China’s manufacturing power with India’s market and services capacity, Russia’s resources and technology, Brazil’s agriculture and mining, Indonesia’s manufacturing and maritime position and the Gulf’s capital and energy.
The India-China relationship demonstrates the complexity. Bilateral merchandise trade reached US$151.1 billion in FY2025-26, but India’s deficit with China was approximately US$112.16 billion. The reopening of some border trade and direct air connections provides room for economic stabilisation, but the scale of the trade imbalance remains a major issue.
The Trillion Dollar, Global South Economies
Brazil brings US$5.2 trillion in PPP GDP, enormous agricultural and mineral resources and globally significant companies such as Vale and Embraer.
Indonesia, with about US$5.45 trillion PPP GDP, growth around 5% and a population approaching 290 million, gives BRICS a much stronger Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific dimension.
Saudi Arabia, at roughly US$2.9 trillion PPP GDP, combines energy production with financial resources.
Egypt, at about US$2.6 trillion PPP, controls one of the world’s most important maritime trade gateways through the Suez Canal.
Iran has approximately US$1.8 trillion PPP GDP but faces a sharply negative 2026 growth outlook because of geopolitical and economic disruption.
South Africa, at around US$1.1 trillion PPP, remains a major gateway into Southern Africa.
The UAE, at approximately US$1 trillion PPP, provides finance, aviation, logistics and re-export infrastructure.
Ethiopia, with approximately US$559 billion PPP GDP, is the smallest member by economic size but one of the fastest-growing, at roughly 9.2% in 2026. The result is an organisation that now spans the major economic corridors of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
Connectivity Is Becoming Multimodal
BRICS connectivity is no longer simply about building roads, railways and ports. The wider agenda now encompasses rail, maritime shipping, aviation, digital infrastructure, space systems, energy grids and people-to-people mobility. Russia’s Northern Sea Route is particularly important. Rosatom is preparing cooperation with India on cargo transportation, while Russia has also discussed training Indian sailors for Arctic shipping.
China and South Korea have likewise expressed interest in Arctic shipping opportunities. Russia’s Ural Airlines is preparing twice-weekly Yekaterinburg-Delhi flights from October 27, 2026, adding another aviation link to the growing economic relationship. Space cooperation provides another connectivity layer.
BRICS has developed a remote-sensing cooperation mechanism involving six satellites and five ground stations, while Russia and China are working on a 2026-2030 satellite-navigation cooperation roadmap linking GLONASS and BeiDou. Such systems support agriculture, climate monitoring, disaster management, navigation and infrastructure planning.
Tourism is Also Economic Connectivity
Tourism and people-to-people mobility are increasingly relevant because services trade cannot expand without movement. India’s chairship has treated cultural and people-to-people exchange as one of the three major BRICS pillars alongside political-security and economic-financial cooperation. Reopened air links, improved travel connections, easier business mobility and tourism cooperation can increase aviation demand, hotel investment, hospitality revenues, education exchanges and professional services. For an increasingly integrated BRICS economy, engineers, investors, students, tourists, technicians and executives are as important to connectivity as cargo containers.
Health Cooperation Adds Another Institutional Layer
The economic and social consequences of pandemics have encouraged BRICS to build permanent health mechanisms. The BRICS Expert Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine promotes cooperation in traditional and complementary healthcare. The BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Mental Wellness creates another specialist cooperation channel.
An expert group on the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for Prevention and Response to Mass Infectious Diseases aims to improve preparedness and early warning. These mechanisms demonstrate that BRICS cooperation is increasingly being organised through specialised networks rather than only annual political summits.
The 16th BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting, held in Chandigarh, India, on 23-24 July 2026, has produced the most significant political recognition of traditional medicine) in the history of BRICS health cooperation. For the first time, the Health Ministerial Declaration contains a dedicated section on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM), endorsing a new BRICS expert working group on this topic to enhance dialogue, collaboration and exchange among Member States.
Global Governance Is The Political Counterpart
The economic weight of BRICS has inevitably increased demands for reform of global governance. Members support reforms involving the United Nations, UN Security Council, IMF, World Bank and WTO, arguing that representation should reflect the economic and demographic importance of emerging economies. Russia and China already hold permanent seats on the UN Security Council. India and Brazil seek greater representation, while stronger African representation is central to the wider Global South argument. The BRICS approach to trade is not necessarily to abandon the existing multilateral system. The grouping has supported a more inclusive and equitable trading system with the WTO at its core, while seeking to preserve policy space for emerging-market and developing economies.
The Political Problem: Expansion Increases Economic Weight But Complicates Consensus
The expansion of BRICS has significantly enhanced its representation among Global South countries. Yet the biggest immediate risk is political fragmentation. The May BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting ended without a joint statement because of differences involving Iran and the UAE. India instead issued a chair’s statement and outcome document containing two paragraphs without unanimity. Moscow has expressed confidence that India can find formulations acceptable to the members and has offered to help normalise Iran-UAE relations.
This is a structural problem for an expanded BRICS. The larger the grouping becomes, the greater its economic weight but also the larger the number of bilateral disputes, geopolitical priorities and competing interests that have to be accommodated. The summit does not need to produce consensus on every question surrounding Ukraine, West Asia or relations with Washington to be successful. The more realistic measure is whether geopolitical disagreements can be prevented from blocking areas of common economic interest.
Five Measurable Outcomes To Watch
In terms of strategic developments to watch out for, we have identified five, as follows:
- The BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy to 2030. Its formalisation would give the grouping a long-term economic roadmap extending beyond the previous 2025 horizon.
- The Global Value Chains Action Plan 2026-2030. The crucial issue will be implementation in manufacturing, critical minerals, food, energy, pharmaceuticals and technology.
- The MSME Cooperation Portal, Invoice Discounting Mechanism, export-oriented MSME credit principles, Startup Innovation Fund and Incubator Network.
- Payment Interoperability. BRICS needs a clearer operational roadmap for linking fast-payment systems, CBDCs and national-currency settlement. Russia’s approximately 90% national-currency share of BRICS transactions provides an existing model rather than a purely theoretical proposal.
- Physical and Technological Connectivity: logistics, smart grids, digital agriculture, critical minerals, satellite data, energy storage, digital services, aviation and people-to-people mobility. These are more consequential than another general political declaration because they can change the way companies actually conduct cross-border business.
Complimenting these are additional important achievement of India’s 2026 BRICS chairmanship, which may ultimately be the accumulation of these specialised mechanisms. These include the Jaipur Invoice Discounting initiative, export-oriented MSME credit principles, Startup Innovation Fund, Incubator Network, Digital Agriculture Network, AGRIN, agro-ecology centres, farmers’ seed-rights forum, traditional medicine expert group, mental-wellness centres, infectious-disease early-warning system, smart-grid and energy-storage centre, Energy Research Cooperation Platform, photovoltaic knowledge portal, Solar PV Cooperation Roadmap and principles for digitally delivered services.
Russia’s BRICS Strategy Is Ultimately About Economic Resilience
For Moscow, the New Delhi summit combines several objectives: preserving energy markets, expanding national-currency settlement, developing industrial cooperation with India, maintaining access to Asian markets, deepening defence production, advancing nuclear and space cooperation, and opening Arctic transport routes. This explains why Putin’s September 11 meeting with Modi and INNOPROM. India’s September 9-11 industrial programme are so important to Russia.
The Russian interpretation of BRICS is also broader than an anti-Western alliance. Moscow has repeatedly described BRICS as a platform for cooperation among its members and partners rather than an organisation created against a third country. For Russia, the economic value lies in creating more routes through which goods, capital, energy, technology and investment can circulate despite geopolitical pressure.
Summary
The New Delhi BRICS 2026 summit starts with extraordinary aggregate numbers: approximately half of humanity, around 40% of global GDP, nearly one-quarter of world trade and more than US$1 trillion in intra-BRICS trade. But economic scale by itself does not create an integrated economic system.
The real significance of the BRICS summit will be whether the bloc can turn its demographic and economic mass into functioning circuits of trade, investment, finance, technology, energy, logistics and human mobility.
India has already spent 2026 building much of the institutional pipeline: more than 350 meetings across 25 cities, roughly 35 areas of cooperation, economic and financial mechanisms, GVC planning, MSME initiatives, startup structures, digital agriculture, energy-storage cooperation, health networks, payment discussions, technology programmes and connectivity initiatives.
Russia’s relationship with India demonstrates what that transformation can look like in practice: nearly US$70 billion in annual bilateral trade, national-currency settlement, Arctic oil with Indian participation, coal, nuclear power, critical-mineral cooperation, defence technology, aviation, space and industrial production. China demonstrates the scale of the manufacturing and technology opportunity. Brazil demonstrates the agricultural and commodity opportunity. Indonesia adds Southeast Asian production and maritime connectivity. The Gulf states provide capital, energy and logistics. Egypt provides the Suez gateway. Ethiopia provides high growth. South Africa provides an African industrial gateway.
The New Delhi Declaration will therefore be important, but it will not be the final measure of the summit. The harder test begins after the leaders depart New Delhi, and revolve around whether the mechanisms developed during India’s chairmanship have actually increased trade; whether payment systems reduce transaction costs; whether MSMEs receive financing; whether global value chains become more resilient; whether infrastructure links become commercially viable; whether companies invest across borders; whether technology cooperation produces factories and services; and whether BRICS can maintain economic cooperation despite political differences. If so, then this represents the direction in which BRICS is evolving: from an impressive economic statistic into a practical economic network.
This analytical report was written by KP Majumdar, a geostrategic and geo-economics analyst based in South Asia whose work has been widely published by international news media and publications. He may be reached at info@russiaspivottoasia.com
