UPSC Issue at a Glance | BRICS Summit 2026: From its expansion and challenges to what India’s presidency achieved

Set against the backdrop of tariffs, trade tensions, geopolitical fragmentation, and the chairmanship of India, the summit holds great importance; thus, knowing about it from a broader perspective becomes essential.

Question 1: What is BRICS ?

BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the original five members who were large, non-Western economies. The history of BRICS goes back to year 2001 when Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, ‘The World Needs Better Economic BRICs’ gave acronym BRIC. The paper projected that Brazil, Russia, India, and China would be among the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

BRIC was formalised at the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in 2006. The inaugural BRIC Summit was convened in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, in 2011. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and UAE became full member of BRICS from January 2024 and Indonesia in January 2025.

Notably, Saudi Arabia has an unusual status within BRICS. Although it was formally invited to join the grouping in 2023, Riyadh has yet to formally accept the invitation and become a full member. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam joined BRICS as Partner Countries in 2025. The organisation now represents almost half the world’s population and almost one-quarter of the world’s economy.

The New Development Bank  is a multilateral development bank established by BRICS countries. The idea of setting up NDB was first conceived in 2012 during the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India. The agreement to establish it was signed on July 15, 2014, and became operational on July 21, 2015, during the BRICS Summit held in Fortaleza. This is known as the Fortaleza Declaration.

Question 2: What are the key takeaways from the BRICS Summit 2026?

The BRICS Summit 2026 took place under the chairship of India with the theme of ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability’. The grouping adopted the New Delhi Declaration on September 12. The 45-page declaration achieved a consensus through careful diplomatic calibration. As many as 140 paragraphs of the document dwelt at length on trade, health, and tourism, making the document cooperative rather than confrontational, and various initiatives were supported by member countries.

1. ‘Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network: Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed establishing a ‘Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network’ to provide timely assistance and ensure the safety of personnel working at sea.

— India has been advocating for the safety of seafarers because it supplies a massive share of the global maritime workforce and relies heavily on secure sea lanes for international trade. In fact, India provides over 12% of all trained seafarers around the world, with thousands of Indian families depending on those working aboard commercial vessels.

2. New agriculture initiatives: The BRICS nations announced four new agriculture initiatives, including the establishment of Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture for Climate Resilience and Productivity and Digital Agriculture.

— The leaders also agreed to the establishment of a collaborative, non-binding, and farmer-centric BRICS AGRIN (Agro-Inputs, Genetic Resources, and Information Network), while welcoming the launch of a Global Forum on Farmers’ Rights in Seed Systems.

3. BRICS Continuity and Implementation Mechanism:To keep track of the initiatives, the Prime Minister proposed a ‘BRICS Continuity and Implementation Mechanism.’ This would enable the follow-up of all initiatives and outcomes through the Troika (the troika refers to a framework comprising past, current and incoming chairs of the grouping).

4. NIMHANS to be nodal body for BRICS Centres of Excellence: The New Delhi Declaration agrees to support the establishment of a network of training hubs and centres of excellence (CoEs) for mental health, with Bengaluru-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) being the coordinating centre.

5. BRICS calls for boosting transport: BRICS nations reaffirmed their commitment to enhance transport potential, including in civil aviation, while also respecting the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of all member states.

— Notably, India, China, Russia, and Brazil are among the top five countries in the world with the largest railway and road networks.

6. BRICS education agenda: The BRICS nations have called for cooperation in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).

— They also welcomed the outcomes of the 13th BRICS Education Minister’s meeting in Bhubaneshwar last month. The New Delhi Declaration also highlighted another priority sector — the BRICS Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Cooperation Alliance (BRICS-TCA).

— The Declaration encouraged the BRICS Network University to consider traditional, indigenous and local knowledge systems as an additional International Thematic Group.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the BRICS summit in New Delhi on Saturday. (Foreign Ministry via AP)

7. BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation (RSSC) Agreement: The New Delhi Declaration also acknowledges the significant progress in finalising the amendment to the BRICS RRSSC Agreement for including new space agencies.

— The RSSC is a virtual network of existing observation satellites of the BRICS countries, including India’s Resourcesat 2 and 2A, China’s Gaofen-6 and Ziyuan III 02, and Russia’s Kanopus-V type.

— The Summit also drafted the Terms of Reference for the BRICS Space Council. There was also an emphasis on debris mitigation and long-term sustainability.

8. BRICS Science and Research Repository: The declaration also speaks of the planned BRICS Science and Research Repository, envisaged as a structured platform for knowledge storage and sharing among BRICS countries voluntarily, while respecting data security, intellectual property rights and relevant national policies.

9. BRICS Payment Task Force: The declaration says that the BRICS Payment Task Force, a collaborative grouping of central bank experts from BRICS nations, has been studying how their payment and messaging systems could work more easily with one another. The stated aim is to make cross-border payments among BRICS countries faster, cheaper, more accessible and safer.

— The BRICS Payment Task Force will continue to explore practical solutions for efficient cross-border payments and enhancing interoperability of payment and messaging channels. This builds on the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative referenced in the Kazan and Rio Declarations.

— Members also expressed interest in taking forward discussions on India’s proposal for a BRICS Risk Lab at the GIFT City International Financial Services Centre in Gujarat.

10. BRICS seeks ‘mutually reinforcing policy levers’: With an eye on ensuring resilient global value chains, the BRICS countries will look at “mutually reinforcing policy levers” to boost trade within the grouping, the New Delhi Declaration, issued on Saturday, said.

— The levers would include backward and forward global value chain linkages, regional integration, economic diversification beyond primary commodities, investment in physical and digital infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and upgrading workforce skills.

11. BRICS condemns unilateral tariffs, backs WTO reforms: The para 22 of the declaration says the members condemn “unilateral coercive measures,” “unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions” — which is standard BRICS shorthand for Western sanctions regimes.

— BRICS members said that the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions is inconsistent with WTO rules, whether in the form of “indiscriminate raising of tariffs and non-tariff measures”, or protectionism under the “guise of environmental objectives”.

— The declaration said that the members support reform of the WTO and to strengthen a non-discriminatory, open, equitable, transparent, fair, inclusive, predictable and rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.

12. BRICS condemns Pahalgam attack: On terrorism, the BRICS leaders got a consensus in 2026 Delhi but the language formulation was similar to the 2025 Rio declaration. “We express strong condemnation of any acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed. We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025, during which 26 people were killed and many more injured.”

13. BRICS opposed Carbon Border Tax: The declaration also opposed “carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM)”, aiming at US/EU trade-climate measures.

— Notably, CBAM is an import duty that is imposed by Europe on goods produced in other countries by processes that lead to greater carbon emissions than domestic European manufacturers are allowed to emit.

14. Call for UN Security Council (UNSC) reform: In the section on UNSC, the declaration states: “Recalling the 2022 Beijing and 2023 Johannesburg-II Leaders’ Declarations, China and Russia, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, reiterate their support to the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a greater role in the UN, including its Security Council..”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched two commemorative postage stamps marking two decades of BRICS during the 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. (Narendra Modi Photo Gallery/ANI Photo)

15. On Palestine: The New Delhi Declaration, in paragraphs 30 and 31, takes “note of the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2803” and reaffirms the “Arab Peace Initiative”.

— The declaration reiterated the group’s support for a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It called on Israel to adhere to the Lebanon ceasefire and for Israeli withdrawal from remaining Lebanese territory, as well as an inclusive political transition in Syria.

16. Affirmed support for UNRWA: The New Delhi declaration affirmed its support for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and noted the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures in South Africa’s case against Israel, which reaffirmed Israel’s legal obligation to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

17. BRICS-New Development Bank Knowledge Portal: Among India-led initiatives, BRICS welcomed a new Task Force on Growth and Development and the launch of a BRICS-New Development Bank Knowledge Portal to share policy experiences and lessons from development projects across member countries.

What was left out of the New Delhi Declaration?

1. No common BRICS currency: While speculation about a unified BRICS currency has been rife for years, the declaration steered clear of the subject. Instead, BRICS continued to focus on a more incremental goal: making it easier for members to promote trade settlements and investments in their own currencies to achieve faster, cheaper and safer cross-border payments.

— The declaration acknowledged discussions on promoting the use of BRICS local currencies while respecting national priorities and recognising that there is “no one-size-fits-all approach”.

2. No BRICS Pay: The BRICS members have not agreed on a common technical architecture, a shared settlement mechanism, or the launch of the payments platform, BRICS Pay, to materialise trade in national currencies beyond the existing initiatives at bilateral levels.

3. No mention of Ukraine: On Ukraine, there was no mention at all in the Delhi 2026 declaration. With Russia at the high table as India’s long-time partner, any mention of Ukraine has been avoided. No paragraph in the 45-page declaration mentions Ukraine, Russia’s invasion, or related sanctions by name. In Rio 2025, there was an anodyne paragraph: “We recall our national positions concerning the conflict in Ukraine as expressed in the appropriate fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.”

Diplomatic activity on the sidelines of the summit

On the sidelines of the BRICS Leaders’ Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had 15 bilateral meetings with leaders of various participating countries which included meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo, and Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima. Officials said boosting cooperation in trade, investment, defence and people-to-people ties was a dominant theme at the meetings.

At the bilateral level, the BRICS summit 2026 provided an important platform to engage key partners. Most notably, the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled continued efforts to stabilize India-China ties, following the 2020 Galwan Valley clash leading to severe deterioration in the relationship.

The two sides discussed areas of cooperation, including trade, business links, supply chains, and people-to-people exchanges, while also reiterating that peace and tranquility along the border remain essential to the development of bilateral ties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit, in New Delhi. (Image: PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a bilateral meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prime Minister Modi gifted Russian President a translated version of the traditional Tamil text Thirukkural during their bilateral meeting. The text, authored by the poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar (also known as “Valluvar”), is considered a seminal work of ancient Tamil literature and philosophy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presents Russian President Vladimir Putin with a Russian translation of the Thirukkural on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit 2026, in New Delhi on September 11, 2026. Photo: ANI

Prime Minister Modi also held bilateral discussions with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and a host of other visiting leaders, with a focus on boosting trade and investment ties.

Question 3: How was India’s 2026 presidency different from its previous chairship in 2021?

The BRICS Summit 2026 is the fourth time India presides over the bloc. Earlier, India has chaired the grouping three times, in 2012, 2016, and 2021. There are three important differences between India’s 2021 and 2026 presidencies of the BRICS. First, the composition of the grouping has changed substantially. In 2021, the group comprised only the five original members, whereas in 2026 it has expanded to 10 members and 10 partner countries. This has increased the group’s economic weight but made consensus more difficult.

Second, the two presidencies took place in very different contexts. The 2021 Summit was held virtually following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and against the backdrop of the India-China border standoff. In 2026, India was able to host an extensive programme of over 350 meetings across 30 Indian cities.

Substantively, the 2021 Summit New Delhi Declaration focused on Global Health Challenges and combating the pandemic, particularly focusing on vaccine production and distribution. In 2026, however, India placed greater emphasis on science and technology, agroecology, fintech, and economic cooperation, alongside its continued push for UN and multilateral reform around representation, responsiveness, and rulemaking.

Third, the economic relationship within BRICS has deepened. Indian trade with BRICS members has more than doubled from $203 billion in 2020-2021 to $417 billion in 2025-2026. Recognizing this expanded potential for intra-bloc trade and market opportunities in these developing economies, the group emphasised customs cooperation, trade finance, supply chains and digital payments while also addressing trade asymmetries.

Question 4: What are the challenges faced by BRICS?

BRICS is a one-of-a-kind, unique, heterogeneous grouping which encompasses diverse political systems: Democracy, authoritarianism, monarchy, theocracy. Similarly, BRICS economies are highly diverse. China’s economy, at about $20 trillion in 2025 in nominal GDP terms, was larger than the combined GDP of the other 10 BRICS states at about $14 trillion. Further, the BRICS states do not share a common historical, linguistic and cultural heritage. In this context, the grouping has emerged as an important block in geopolitics. Still, there are certain challenges faced by it.

Despite their growing economic size and trade capacity, intra-BRICS trade remains relatively modest compared with the group’s overall economic weight. In 2024, intra-BRICS trade accounted for only about 5% of global trade and 20% of South-South trade. While Brazil, China, Russia, and Indonesia have increased the share of intra-BRICS markets in their total exports, other members, including India, the UAE, and Iran, remain relatively less dependent on BRICS markets for their exports.

Despite the extensive networks of bilateral, regional, and plurilateral arrangements, as well as the broad non-binding commitments made within BRICS, the grouping has yet to move towards a comprehensive trade agreement among its members. BRICS cooperation therefore remains largely focused on soft commitments and sector-specific initiatives rather than deeper trade liberalisation and binding market-access commitments.

Another key challenge is to create synergies among different initiatives such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), and the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) so that connectivity projects become more economically viable and mutually beneficial. Various issues among the member countries also presents a big challenge on the path to consensus-building among the member countries.

Beyond the challenges faced by the BRICS, Over two decades, It has transformed itself from a loose grouping of five emerging economies to the most formidable organisation of the Global South. It offers member countries to address the issues and achieve the common goals.

Express Opinion- “There can be two views about BRICS and almost every multilateral forum at a time of churn in global politics. According to the first, such forums are ineffectual pageantry, while the second paints them are merely vehicles for the great powers to build their spheres of hegemonic influence.

The New Delhi Declaration 2026 underlines a much-needed third view. It holds that diplomacy, cooperation and exchange of ideas, goods and services need not be beholden to the ideologies and interests of great powers. There is room for different political systems and even states on opposite sides of military conflicts to sit together, to agree, and agree to disagree. The strength of the New Delhi Declaration, then, lies in the spectacular headlines it did not make, and in reasserting the importance of diplomacy as-usual.

In 2026, an expanded BRICS balances the views and needs of its many members. The New Delhi Declaration emphasises that a plurality of voices must be heard and heeded.”

Post Read Questions

Prelims

(1) The ‘Fortaleza Declaration’, recently in the news, is related to the affairs of (UPSC CSE 2015)

(a) ASEAN

(b) BRICS

(c) OECD

(d) WTO

(2) Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS: (UPSC CSE 2025)

1. 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan.

2. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS.

3. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 2 and 3

(c) 1 and 3

(d) 1 only

Mains

India has recently signed to become a founding member of New Development Bank (NDB) and also the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB). How will the role of the two Banks be different? Discuss the strategic significance of these two Banks for India. (UPSC CSE 2014)

Prelims Answer Key

1. (b)  2. (a)

(Sources: Knowledge Nugget | BRICS Summit 2026: New Delhi Declaration, key takeaways and what was left unsaid , Expert Explains | What the BRICS 2026 summit achieved — and what challenges remain, Why Saudi Arabia engages with BRICS without formally joining it, Main takeaways from the BRICS declaration, How BRICS seeks reform of global economic governance , At BRICS, more options, a win for diplomacy)

🚨As we mark the 3rd anniversary of the UPSC Essentials Magazine, we thank our readers for being part of this journey. Your trust, feedback and continued support have shaped the magazine and encouraged us to keep improving with every edition. Click here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for September 2026. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or write to us at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com.🚨

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – Indian Express UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X