{"id":123899,"date":"2026-09-11T12:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=123899"},"modified":"2026-09-11T12:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:50:32","slug":"brics-at-20-why-india-should-steer-brics-beyond-confronting-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/brics-at-20-why-india-should-steer-brics-beyond-confronting-the-west\/","title":{"rendered":"BRICS at 20: Why India Should Steer BRICS Beyond Confronting the West"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>BRICS at 20 Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12\u201313, 2026, as the grouping marks 20 years since its formalisation in 2006.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this context, this article assesses what BRICS has achieved, the tensions within it, and how India can give it a practical developmental agenda instead of an anti-West posture.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>BRICS vs G7: The Numbers<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2000, Brazil, Russia, India and China together held roughly 23 per cent of global GDP (PPP), while the G7 held nearly 52 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By 2024, the positions had reversed. The expanded 11-member BRICS accounted for about <\/span><b>36.8 per cent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while the <\/span><b>G7&#8217;s share fell below 29 per cent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other key comparisons:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Population:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~3.7 billion (49.5 per cent of world); G7 ~771 million (10 per cent)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Nominal GDP:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~$28.5 trillion; G7 ~$46.6 trillion<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Land area:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~39.7 million sq km; G7 ~21.7 million sq km<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Oil production:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~43.6 per cent of global output<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Natural gas:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~36 per cent of global production<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Rare-earth reserves:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS ~72 per cent of global reserves<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Agriculture:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS produces 42 per cent of world wheat, 52 per cent of rice, 46 per cent of soybeans<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Growth:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS projected at 3.8 per cent in 2025 and 3.7 per cent in 2026, over three times the G7 average<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS accounts for roughly a quarter of global trade.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intra-BRICS merchandise trade reached $1.17 trillion in 2024, a 13-fold rise from $84 billion two decades ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bloc holds $5.2 trillion in foreign reserves and produces 78.2 per cent of global mineral coal.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, <\/span><b>per capita GDP tells a different story<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: the G7 averages around $53,000 while BRICS averages roughly $8,200.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bloc&#8217;s weight comes from population and resource scale, not individual prosperity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Evolution of BRICS<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) began in 2006, following a Goldman Sachs projection identifying these economies as future growth engines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It evolved from a foreign ministers&#8217; dialogue into a leaders&#8217; forum. The first summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Africa joined in 2010.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were added.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indonesia became the 11th member in January 2025.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS has grown from an <\/span><b>economic grouping into a geopolitical entity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> presenting itself as the voice of the Global South.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet its central grievance remains unchanged: global institutions have not kept pace with the shift in economic and political power.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India&#8217;s Strategic Engagement<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s participation reflects multi-alignment underpinned by strategic autonomy. New Delhi engages simultaneously with BRICS, the G20, the Quad and the SCO without alliance commitments.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For India, multi-alignment is about creating room for manoeuvre, not choosing between power centres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s institutional contribution is significant. At the 2012 New Delhi summit, India proposed a BRICS development bank, which became the New Development Bank (NDB).\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By mid-2026, the NDB had approved about $44 billion across 141 projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Divergences: Anti-West Bloc or Economic Forum?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most fundamental tension is over purpose. China and Russia position BRICS as a counterweight to Western dominance and the dollar.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beijing has driven expansion to project leadership of the Global South. Moscow, excluded from SWIFT and under sanctions, sees BRICS as an economic lifeline.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and Brazil view BRICS as an economic and reform-oriented grouping. India does not share the enthusiasm for confronting the West.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two episodes illustrate this:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, Russia demanded payment for oil in yuan. India refused, insisting on dollars or rupees.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In February 2026, India signed a framework trade agreement with the US, reportedly agreeing to halt Russian oil purchases in exchange for reduced tariffs, prioritising national interest over bloc solidarity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Expansion and the Consensus Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expansion has introduced sharp contradictions. At the BRICS Foreign Ministers&#8217; meeting in New Delhi in May 2026, members failed to agree on a joint declaration because of a direct confrontation between Iran and the UAE, who are on opposite sides of an active conflict.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India, as host, issued a chair&#8217;s statement noting &#8220;differing views&#8221; on West Asia. Since BRICS works on consensus, expansion has made agreement on geopolitical crises far harder.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Dollar Question<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">US President Donald Trump has threatened 100 per cent tariffs on BRICS nations if they create a new currency. This has largely shelved the idea of a single BRICS currency.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members have instead moved towards bilateral settlement in national currencies:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia and China settle over 90 per cent of trade in ruble and yuan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia and India have moved about 90 per cent of direct payments to national currencies through Special Rupee Vostro Accounts authorised by the RBI.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and the UAE have run a rupee-dirham system since July 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and Indonesia operationalised a rupee-rupiah framework in July 2026, with local-currency trade rising 163 per cent to $8.45 billion in the first two months of 2026.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>BRICS Pay system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to be unveiled at the New Delhi summit, will link Russia&#8217;s SPFS, China&#8217;s CIPS, India&#8217;s UPI and Brazil&#8217;s Pix, allowing settlement without dollar correspondent banks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>India favours interoperable <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/central-bank-digital-currency\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>central bank digital currencies<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over a supranational currency, reflecting its UPI experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet the dollar still holds 57.13 per cent of global central bank reserves (Q1 2026), and no BRICS member is building rupee, yuan or rand reserves at scale.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Pakistan&#8217;s Membership Bid<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pakistan applied for membership in November 2023, but its bid remains contentious due to recurring balance-of-payments crises, IMF dependence, its record on terrorism, political instability and weak policy continuity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its dependence on China could increase Beijing&#8217;s influence, and it has limited capacity to contribute to the BRICS agenda.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Iran-Israel-US conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war will test India&#8217;s ability to secure a joint declaration. Visits by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin offer scope for high-level consultations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond geopolitics, the summit will focus on resilient supply chains, reform of global financial institutions, strengthening the NDB and expanding intra-BRICS trade.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the next decade, India can preserve the reform agenda while adding digital public infrastructure, climate finance, health cooperation, critical minerals, local-currency payments and inclusive connectivity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/india-host-brics-goals-west-10865761\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BRICS at 20 marks a major milestone as India seeks to steer BRICS towards practical development, trade, financial reform and Global South cooperation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":65253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10165,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-123899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-brics-at-20","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123899"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123938,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123899\/revisions\/123938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}