India’s opportunity to put BRICS back together

Context: Ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, concerns have emerged over internal frictions, anti-Western positioning and weakening consensus within the expanded grouping. India faces the challenge of restoring BRICS’ focus on reformed multilateralism.

About India’s opportunity to put BRICS back together:

What it is?

• BRICS was established to amplify the voice of emerging economies in global governance—particularly Bretton Woods institutions—and promote an equitable, multipolar multilateral order. However, following its expansion to 11 full members alongside 10 partner countries, the grouping has developed two competing visions:

• • India’s Vision: A non-West coalition preserving strategic autonomy, multi-alignment, and people-centric reform under the 2026 chairship pillars of Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability (RICS).
  • China-Russia Vision: An anti-West geopolitical counterweight aimed at bypassing existing international bodies and constructing parallel global governance frameworks.

Key Data & Structural Realities:

• Group Expansion: Enlarged from 5 founding nations to 11 full members with the entry of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Indonesia, accompanied by 10 official partner countries.
• Global Macro Footprint: Represents approximately 45% of the world’s population and roughly 30% of global nominal GDP, outpacing the G-7 in purchasing power parity terms.
• Consensus Breakdown: The May 2026 BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi struggled to achieve a joint communique due to disputes among new members, echoing the 2020 precedent where non-consensus chair statements were first introduced.

Core Frictions Threatening Group Cohesion:

• The Non-West vs. Anti-West Tug-of-War: Growing geopolitical tensions, including the Ukraine war and conflicts involving the US, Israel and Iran, have encouraged some BRICS members to push the grouping towards a more anti-Western stance.
• The SAARC Syndrome: While the founding members historically managed bilateral disputes with diplomatic maturity, newer entrants have brought regional rivalries directly into the forum, causing diplomatic gridlock.
• Creating Parallel Structures vs. Reforming Existing Norms: Instead of reforming the UN, IMF, or WTO, China is establishing parallel international systems—such as the World AI Cooperation Organisation in Shanghai, the Digital Silk Road, and the mBridge digital currency platform.
• Pushback Against a Common Currency: Beijing’s push for a common BRICS clearing currency has met hesitation from India and Brazil, who seek to avoid creating a renminbi-dominated mechanism, advocating instead for direct national currency trade settlements.
• Selective Support for UN Reform: Despite championing Global South solidarity, China continues to withhold explicit support for permanent UN Security Council seats for India, Brazil, and South Africa.

Strategic Pressures on India & Necessary Course Corrections:

• Managing Relations with the West: Faced with tariff pressures from Washington and strains across groupings like the Quad, India must resist turning BRICS into an anti-Western bloc to safeguard its strategic autonomy.
• Guarding Financial Sovereignty: Rather than adopting alternative clearing mechanisms like mBridge that may favor dominant currencies, India must focus on linking domestic payment systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
• Restoring Consensus Protocols: Following instances of non-consensus ministerial summaries, New Delhi must re-establish strict consensus as an indispensable rule to prevent majority decisions from being forced through.
• Championing Global South Middle Powers: India must counter Western-centric groupings by establishing BRICS as an independent platform for non-aligned Global South middle powers committed to systemic multilateral reform.

Way Ahead:

• Re-Institutionalize Strict Consensus Rules: Mandate that all official declarations, communiqués, and policy initiatives require unanimous consent, preserving the core principle that maintains institutional trust.
• Prioritize Interoperable Payment Links Over Common Currencies: Focus financial integration on bilateral arrangements, local-currency invoicing, and real-time payment linkages rather than creating a centralized common currency.
• Reassert the Reformed Multilateralism Mandate: Direct negotiations toward actionable structural reforms within the UN Security Council, IMF quota formulas, and the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.
• Establish Norms Against Bilateral Disputes: Institute clear conventions that discourage member states from using official multilateral agendas to litigate bilateral territorial or regional disputes.
• Focus on People-Centric Development: Channel working-group initiatives toward tangible developmental outcomes, including disaster-resilient infrastructure (CDRI), agricultural supply-chain security, and open-source digital public infrastructure.

Conclusion:

The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi represents a pivotal moment for the grouping. Without course correction, rapid expansion and deepening geopolitical rivalries risk turning the bloc into a fractured, anti-Western coalition paralyzed by regional disputes. By re-establishing consensus decision-making, resisting parallel institutional dominance, and focusing on reformed multilateralism, India can preserve BRICS as an effective, independent voice for the Global South.