After Reading This Article You Can Solve This UPSC Main Model Question:
“BRICS is evolving from an economic grouping into an important platform for Global South leadership and a more multipolar world order.” In this context, examine the opportunities and challenges before BRICS, and discuss how India can leverage its presidency to advance strategic autonomy and reformed multilateralism. 15 Marks (GS 2, International Relations)
Context
Ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026, BRICS is being projected as a platform for Global South cooperation, centred on POWER—Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine and Responsibility, while India seeks to balance strategic autonomy, multipolarity, economic cooperation and complex China ties
Introduction
The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi comes amid multipolarity, geopolitical fragmentation and growing mistrust in global institutions. As BRICS expands its Global South footprint, India’s presidency offers an opportunity to turn its growing economic and political weight into effective, inclusive and development-oriented multilateralism through the framework of POWER—Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine and Responsibility.
BRICS: From Economic Grouping to Global South Platform
1. Evolution of BRICS
- BRIC was coined by Jim O’Neill in 2001.
- Formal cooperation began in 2006, with the first summit in 2009.
- South Africa joined in 2010, making it BRICS.
- Subsequent expansion has widened its Global South representation.
2. Expanding Global South Footprint
- New members include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE and Indonesia.
- The partner-country framework further broadens engagement with developing economies.
- This enhances BRICS’ representativeness and bargaining power.
3. Institutionalising Cooperation
- NDB: Provides financing for infrastructure and sustainable development.
- CRA: Acts as a financial safety net against external liquidity pressures.
- Cooperation has also expanded into food security, science & technology and digital cooperation.
4. From Economic Bloc to Global South Platform
- BRICS has moved beyond economic cooperation to address global governance and development concerns.
- It seeks to strengthen the voice, bargaining power and strategic autonomy of the Global South.
- Thus, BRICS is increasingly becoming a platform for multipolar and inclusive global governance.
India’s BRICS Strategy: The POWER Framework
1. P – Principle: Defending a Rules-Based Order
BRICS seeks to uphold international law and sovereign equality while promoting peaceful dispute resolution. For India, this aligns with Article 51 and the vision of a rules-based international order.
- UN Charter principles: Sovereign equality, non-interference, peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for international law.
- Indian approach: Given internal geopolitical divergences, India should pursue issue-based convergence rather than ideological uniformity.
2. O – Openness: Resisting Protectionism
Amid rising protectionism, tariffs and supply-chain disruptions, BRICS can promote an open and resilient global economy. India can combine global integration with protection of strategic interests.
- Economic cooperation: Strengthen trade, infrastructure, energy, critical minerals and resilient supply chains.
- India’s approach: Promote strategic and calibrated openness while supporting a reformed, WTO-centred trading system.
3. W – Win-Win: Development at the Centre
BRICS’ strongest common ground is development cooperation rather than military alignment. It can provide developing countries greater access to finance, technology and resilient economic systems.
- Development agenda: Focus on SDGs, food and energy security, climate finance, health and technology sharing.
- India’s contribution: Leverage DPI, digital payments, healthcare and agriculture to strengthen South-South cooperation.
4. E – Engine: Driving Global Growth
BRICS’ large population, markets, resources and manufacturing base give it the potential to become a major engine of global growth. Emerging technologies can provide the next phase of cooperation.
- Growth sectors: AI, digital economy, smart manufacturing, green technology and new industrialisation.
- India’s opportunity: Position itself as a bridge between technology, development and the Global South.
5. R – Responsibility: From Representation to Leadership
BRICS must move beyond demanding greater representation and demonstrate its capacity to deliver global public goods. India’s presidency provides an opportunity to advance responsible Global South leadership.
- Global responsibilities: Address peace, food-energy security, sustainable development and global crises.
- India’s vision: Promote reformed multilateralism, rather than turning BRICS into another competing geopolitical bloc.
BRICS and India: Strategic Autonomy & the China Factor
1. BRICS as an Instrument of Strategic Autonomy
India uses BRICS to pursue multi-alignment, engaging simultaneously with BRICS, QUAD, SCO, G20 and Indo-Pacific platforms without permanently aligning with any power bloc.
2. Diversifying Strategic Partnerships
BRICS enables India to engage China and Russia, strengthen Global South leadership, diversify economic partnerships and access alternative development financing.
3. BRICS ≠ Anti-Western Alignment
India’s BRICS participation is not a rejection of the West. Rather, it reflects India’s effort to retain strategic flexibility and bargaining power across competing global power centres.
4. China: Partner as well as Competitor
India and China converge on Global South cooperation, multilateralism and global governance reform, but remain divided over borders, trade imbalance, the Indo-Pacific and China’s regional influence.
5. India’s Approach: Engage, but Safeguard Interests
China’s support for India’s BRICS presidency offers a diplomatic opening. India should pursue structured engagement with China through BRICS while firmly protecting its sovereignty, security and economic interests.
Major Challenges Before BRICS
1. Geopolitical Divergence: Members have competing strategic interests and foreign-policy priorities, making consensus and coordinated action difficult.
2. Economic Asymmetry: China’s dominant economic weight can create concerns over unequal influence and power imbalance within the grouping.
3. Expansion–Cohesion Dilemma: Expansion enhances Global South representation, but greater diversity of interests can make consensus-building and decision-making slower.
4. Institutional & Implementation Weakness: Institutions such as the NDB and CRA remain limited compared with the IMF and World Bank. Frequent changes in presidency can also create a gap between summit declarations and actual implementation.
5. De-dollarisation & Strategic Positioning: Local-currency settlements and payment interoperability can strengthen financial autonomy, but a common BRICS currency is difficult due to divergent economies and monetary systems. BRICS should therefore prioritise practical financial cooperation over premature currency ambitions, while avoiding becoming an anti-Western bloc.
Way Forward: From Summitry to Delivery
1. Strengthen Institutional Architecture
Create a lean, technocratic permanent BRICS Secretariat to ensure continuity, coordinate priorities and monitor implementation beyond annual summits.
2. Deepen Financial Cooperation
Expand NDB financing, local-currency lending and cross-border payments. Interoperable systems such as BRICS Pay can gradually enhance financial autonomy.
3. Build Resilient Supply Chains
Cooperation in critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, food, energy, semiconductors and logistics can reduce vulnerability to geopolitical disruptions.
4. Ensure Food & Energy Security
Initiatives such as a BRICS Grain Exchange can strengthen food-market resilience, while greater energy cooperation can address supply shocks.
5. Democratise Technology & Strengthen Global South Voice
Develop partnerships in AI, DPI, biotechnology, healthcare and green technology, while working with the AU, ASEAN and other Global South platforms to build a coordinated voice.
6. Institutionalise Crisis Diplomacy
Create mechanisms for dialogue, mediation and conflict management, enabling BRICS to contribute to resolving crises rather than merely issuing summit declarations.
Conclusion
BRICS must convert collective weight into collective action through Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine and Responsibility.
For India, it is a platform to combine strategic autonomy, multilateralism and Global South leadership. The goal is a more inclusive, representative and effective global order—not an anti-Western bloc.
| Important CTC From This Article For UPSC: BRICS Global South |