The grouping began in 2006 with Brazil, Russia, India and China before South Africa was added. It has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia became a full member in 2025.
For New Delhi, however, the summit is about more than hosting a large gathering of emerging economies. India has spent the year seeking to shape BRICS around a practical agenda, reflected in its chairship theme, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” The broader approach has been described by the government as “Humanity First” and people-centric.
This balancing act will be important in Delhi, particularly because China and Russia have often favoured a more explicitly anti-Western interpretation of BRICS, while India has sought to keep the grouping focused on development and practical cooperation.
Global trade has become increasingly vulnerable to wars, sanctions, protectionism and disruptions in critical supply chains. India wants BRICS countries to work towards more resilient and diversified global value chains.
At the BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Jaipur in August, members backed progress towards a BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2030, while India pushed for greater intra-BRICS trade, expanded trade in services and resilient supply chains.
The challenge, however, is balancing greater intra-BRICS trade with India’s concerns over trade imbalances and excessive dependence on China.
For New Delhi, the objective is not simply to increase trade, but to make trade more predictable and diversify sources of critical goods, technology and raw materials.
Financial cooperation is another major item on India’s BRICS agenda. The bloc has discussed reducing dependence on traditional financial channels and encouraging greater use of national currencies. Cross-border payments, fintech and digital financial infrastructure are expected to feature prominently in the Delhi discussions.
India has little interest in simply replacing the dollar with another dominant currency or creating an unrealistic common BRICS currency overnight. A more practical approach would involve making cross-border transactions easier and cheaper through interoperable payment systems and greater use of local currencies.
India’s experience with UPI gives it considerable credibility in this area.
India also wants BRICS to become a vehicle for technological cooperation rather than merely another geopolitical forum. AI, digital public infrastructure, research collaboration, innovation and knowledge-sharing have been prominent features of India’s chairship.
The government has highlighted proposals including a BRICS startup innovation fund, an incubator network and a shared research repository.
At the BRICS science ministers’ meeting, India pushed for stronger cooperation in research infrastructure, knowledge sharing and innovation. The resulting Chennai Declaration placed young innovators and the Global South at the heart of the agenda.
For India, the larger objective is that emerging economies should not merely consume technologies developed elsewhere; they should participate in setting the rules and building the technologies.
Energy is another area where the interests of BRICS members overlap. The grouping includes some of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers as well as major energy consumers. India wants the bloc to address energy security while simultaneously dealing with climate change and the transition towards cleaner energy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted India’s effort to put the Global South at the centre of a “secure, resilient, equitable and sustainable” global energy future. He has also stressed that resilient energy systems require stronger international partnerships, not just domestic policies.
For India, this is particularly important because affordable and reliable energy remains closely linked to economic growth and development.
Another practical proposal India is taking to the summit concerns economic offenders. New Delhi plans to push for faster sharing of financial and investigative information among BRICS countries to help track economic fugitives and recover illicit assets.
The proposed framework would include standardised information-sharing mechanisms, asset recovery cooperation and institutional linkages.
This matters to India because several major financial fraud and corruption cases have involved accused persons and assets spread across multiple jurisdictions.
A senior Indian official told The Economic Times that the existing process of tracking fugitives and pursuing extradition is “extremely time taking.” India wants BRICS enforcement agencies to establish quicker channels of cooperation before cases become bogged down in lengthy formal procedures.
India’s biggest challenge is also its most important objective: making an expanded BRICS work.
With 11 full members and a wider group of partner countries, differences between members have increased. India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil and the UAE do not always see global issues in the same way.
That makes consensus difficult, but also makes India’s emphasis on practical cooperation significant.
India’s BRICS Sherpa Sudhakar Dalela recently said more than 400 meetings had been organised across nearly 30 Indian cities during the chairship, describing it as a “collective, whole-of-nation effort.”
The Delhi summit will ultimately test whether that extensive groundwork can translate into concrete outcomes.
For India, success may not mean turning BRICS into a rival to the G7 or creating a new global financial order overnight. It may instead mean establishing the grouping as a useful platform for trade, technology, energy, development and Global South cooperation, while allowing New Delhi to retain its strategic autonomy.
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