As India prepares to host the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, its leadership is defined by the overarching theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.
Guided by a “Humanity-First” and people-centric approach, New Delhi has structured its specific priorities around four strategic pillars. India’s primary message is to reform global governance without tearing it down. Rather than replacing current international frameworks, New Delhi wants institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and UN Security Council to evolve. This ensures the Global South gains a legitimate voice in a peaceful, multipolar world order while maintaining a balance between East and West.
New Delhi is also heavily promoting its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a low-cost, open-source model for global development. On the financial tech side, India’s priority focuses on establishing cheaper cross-border payment mechanisms and expanding the interoperability of digital payment systems—such as linking domestic platforms with BRICS Pay mechanisms—to streamline trade.
Unlike some members who view BRICS as a tool to aggressively dismantle the Western financial order, India is intentionally steering clear of fast-tracked de-dollarization. Instead, New Delhi is leveraging its strategic autonomy through multi-alignment. India’s priority is to promote local-currency trade settlements while safely maintaining strong economic partnerships with Western nations.
Under the sustainability banner, India is prioritising green growth, clean energy transitions, and disaster-resilient infrastructure. Concurrently, New Delhi is focusing on securing stable multilateral supply chains for critical minerals, food, and energy, buffering emerging economies against unilateral tariff pressures and global market shocks.
It may be noted that the BRICS bloc is currently at a critical geopolitical crossroads. The group now operates as an expanded, multi-layered coalition. Following rapid growth—including the full integration of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Indonesia—BRICS represents nearly half the world’s population and 40% of global GDP.
Despite its formidable economic scale, BRICS faces severe structural and political frictions that complicate cohesive action. First are the geopolitical divides, such as the India-China border disputes, as well as the escalating geopolitical crisis in West Asia. There is also the economic asymmetry. China’s economy accounts for roughly 70% of the bloc’s aggregate GDP. This massive disparity creates an inherent power imbalance, fostering fears of Chinese economic dominance.
While the bloc aggressively pursues de-dollarization via local-currency trade, building a unified BRICS currency remains stymied. Members lack deep institutional trust in each other’s currencies, and Western trade barriers loom over alternative systems. Integrating diverse political systems—ranging from vibrant democracies to strict autocracies—threatens to dilute organisational focus.
However, the group continues to gain momentum as the primary institutional voice for the Global South. BRICS serves as an effective mechanism to pressure Western-led frameworks like the IMF and World Bank into quota and voting reforms.
With alternative ecosystems and supply chain security, the expanded alliance holds unmatched potential to reshape global governance. However, its long-term viability relies entirely on whether members can successfully bridge deep internal political rivalries.
