When India hosted the BRICS summit in New Delhi in 2012, the country was at a very different point in its economic journey.
The grouping itself was still relatively young. What began as BRIC—Brazil, Russia, India and China—had become BRICS after South Africa joined in 2010. But while India was already part of a club that was supposed to represent the emerging powers of the 21st century, questions were being raised about whether it could live up to that promise.
Fourteen years later, as India hosts BRICS again in 2026, the conversation has changed dramatically.
ALSO READ | The Five Men Who Define BRICS And What They Want From The Summit
India is no longer merely a country trying to justify its place in the grouping. It is increasingly being viewed
as one of its key growth engines and an important source of its economic and strategic weight.
The contrast between the two moments offers a useful lens to understand how much India has changed.
When India Was The ‘Weak Link’ Of BRICS
In 2012, the question being asked was not whether India could shape BRICS, but whether it was becoming the weakest member of the grouping.
ALSO READ | BRICS Summit 2026: What It Could Mean For Indian Companies, Investors, Trade and Capital Flows
Was India really deserving of its place in BRICS? Should Indonesia replace India as the “I” in BRIC? Was India the weakest link in the group? These questions reflected the economic mood of the time.
India’s growth had slowed sharply, inflation was high, the rupee was under pressure and concerns were mounting over the government’s ability to push through economic reforms.
In June 2012, Standard & Poor’s warned that India could become the first BRIC country to lose its investment-grade sovereign rating, citing slowing growth and political roadblocks to policymaking. India was then rated BBB-, just one notch above speculative grade.
The warning became one of the defining markers of the pessimism surrounding India’s economic trajectory at the time.
ALSO READ | Straight Talk | BRICS Summit: With Xi And Putin In Delhi, India Takes Global Centre Stage
Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist who coined the BRIC formulation, was also far from bullish on India in valuation terms. In an August 2012 interview, he described India as the least attractive of the four BRIC economies on valuation, placing China first, followed by Brazil, Russia and India.
The broader economic picture was equally difficult. Growth in 2012-13 fell below 5 per cent, while inflation remained elevated. The narrative around India had begun to shift from that of an emerging economic giant to that of an economy struggling with policy paralysis, inflation and slowing growth.
In other words, India was in BRICS, but there were doubts about whether it could keep pace with the other emerging powers.
Fast Forward To 2026
The picture today is substantially different.
India enters the 2026 BRICS summit with an economy that has maintained one of the fastest growth rates among major economies.
Real GDP grew 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of FY2026-27, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The government said the economy had sustained its growth momentum despite global headwinds.
That is a striking contrast with the sub-5 per cent growth India was registering during the slowdown of the early 2010s.
The change is not just about one quarter’s GDP number. India’s economic fundamentals and the way global institutions assess them have also evolved.
From ‘Fallen Angel’ Fears To A- Rating
Perhaps one of the clearest markers of this change is India’s sovereign credit story.
ALSO READ | Lotus In Many Hues With A ‘Namaste’ At The Centre: What India’s BRICS Logo Symbolises
In 2012, S&P’s warning that India could become the first BRIC economy to lose investment-grade status had raised concerns about the country’s economic vulnerabilities.
In September 2026, the Japan Credit Rating Agency upgraded India’s sovereign rating by one notch, from BBB+ to A-, with a Stable Outlook. JCR cited India’s solid and resilient economic growth, improving fiscal quality, a strengthened financial system and a robust external position.
JCR also pointed to India’s continued high growth, strong private consumption and public investment, as well as policy measures such as GST and the development of digital public infrastructure. It also highlighted the improvement in the quality of government expenditure, particularly the emphasis on capital expenditure and infrastructure investment.
The significance of the upgrade lies not merely in the rating itself, but in how different the conversation around India’s sovereign risk is from 2012.
Then, the concern was whether India could retain investment-grade status. Today, the discussion is about whether India’s growth trajectory can support its emergence as a much larger global economic power.
BRICS Has Changed, And So Has India’s Place In It
The grouping that India joined as BRIC has also undergone a dramatic transformation.
BRICS has expanded well beyond its original four members, with South Africa joining in 2010 and subsequent expansion bringing in countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia, among others.
The bloc now represents a far larger share of the global population and economy, and has evolved from an economic acronym into a broader political and diplomatic platform for emerging and developing countries.
That expansion has also made India’s position within BRICS more consequential.
India is not the largest economy in the grouping. China remains substantially larger, but its combination of economic growth, population, market size, technological capabilities and diplomatic relationships gives it considerable weight.
And unlike the BRICS conversation of 2012, India today is not simply being measured against the other members. It is also attempting to shape what the expanded grouping should become.
From Economic Story To Strategic Weight
India’s rise within BRICS is not only about GDP. It is also about the country’s ability to maintain relationships across geopolitical fault lines.
The 2026 summit comes at a time when US-China rivalry, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the West Asia crisis and wider geopolitical fragmentation are reshaping international relations.
India’s long-standing preference for strategic autonomy, and its ability to engage simultaneously with countries that do not always share the same interests, has acquired greater relevance in this environment.
Chatham House has described strategic autonomy as a long-standing feature of India’s foreign policy, while noting that India’s approach allows New Delhi to maintain relationships with countries with which the West has difficult relations. The institute has also highlighted the growing importance of strategic hedging for middle powers in a world increasingly shaped by US-China competition.
For India, this means BRICS is not simply an economic grouping. It is one of several platforms through which New Delhi can pursue its interests without formally aligning itself with one major power bloc.
The symbolism of the 2026 summit is also hard to miss.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other major leaders are converging in New Delhi as India hosts the grouping. The fact that these leaders are coming to India at a time of geopolitical fragmentation itself underlines New Delhi’s growing convening power.
India’s relationships with these countries are complicated and often marked by significant differences. China remains India’s strategic competitor; Russia is deeply tied to India’s defence and energy interests; Iran is central to India’s connectivity and West Asia calculations. Yet India is able to engage all of them within the same diplomatic framework.
There has also been a qualitative change in the economic story.
India’s earlier BRIC narrative was heavily associated with its services sector, IT industry, expanding consumer market and demographic potential. Today, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital public infrastructure and emerging technologies have become a much larger part of the country’s economic pitch.
The development of platforms such as UPI and Aadhaar has given India a distinctive model of digital public infrastructure, while initiatives aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing have sought to reduce import dependence and position India as an alternative manufacturing destination.
JCR specifically cited India’s digital public infrastructure and GST among the policies that have strengthened the country’s economic foundations.
Put simply, in 2012, India entered its BRICS summit amid questions about whether it could keep pace with the other emerging economies. In 2026, India is hosting an expanded BRICS at a time when it is among the world’s fastest-growing major economies, has secured an upgrade to an A- sovereign rating from JCR, and is seeking to shape the agenda of a grouping that has grown substantially in economic and geopolitical importance.
The contrast has changed the question. In 2012, the debate was—Does India deserve to be in BRICS? In 2026, the more relevant question is: How much can India shape what BRICS becomes?
