India Sets the Agenda
India is hosting the summit on September 12-13 in New Delhi, setting the theme as “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. This marks India's fourth time chairing the group, and it comes at a pivotal moment. New Delhi aims
to steer discussions toward tangible outcomes like strengthening supply chains, ensuring food and energy security, and promoting digital cooperation. For India, the goal is to reinforce BRICS as a constructive forum that champions the interests of the Global South, rather than an anti-Western alliance. The extensive year-long preparations, involving over 350 meetings, have focused on a people-centric development agenda and leveraging India's own successes, like its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as a model for cooperation.
The Challenge of a Bigger Bloc
Since its last major summit, BRICS has expanded significantly, now including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Indonesia. This has swelled its ranks to eleven members, representing nearly half the world's population. While this boosts the group's demographic and economic weight, it also introduces a dizzying array of competing interests. The bloc now includes historic rivals like India and China, and Iran and Saudi Arabia. A key focus of the preparations has been finding common ground amidst this diversity. Integrating these new members and forging a cohesive vision will be a major test of India's diplomatic leadership during the summit. Experts note that the group's success will depend on its ability to manage these internal divisions and prove it is more than just a “talking shop”.
The De-Dollarization Debate Continues
A persistent theme in the lead-up to the summit is the push to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar. Spurred by Western sanctions on members like Russia, the bloc is actively exploring ways to increase trade in national currencies. India has pitched for linking payment systems, like its UPI, across the member states to facilitate easier cross-border transactions. However, the rhetoric often outpaces reality. While bilateral trade in local currencies, such as the rupee-rouble mechanism, is increasing, the creation of a common BRICS currency remains a distant and complex prospect. Analysts point out that the dollar remains deeply embedded in global trade and that BRICS members have different economic priorities, making a coordinated shift difficult. The New Delhi summit is expected to focus on practical steps like payment system integration rather than a dramatic move away from the dollar.
The India-China Balancing Act
At the heart of the bloc's internal dynamics lies the complex relationship between India and China. The two Asian giants are strategic rivals, yet they are also the two largest economies within BRICS. The summit provides a crucial platform for high-level engagement against a backdrop of lingering border tensions and regional competition. For India, BRICS is a tool for institutional balancing—a way to engage with China in a multilateral setting without conceding to its dominance. Recent diplomatic thaws and a potential meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are being closely watched. How India navigates its role as host and its “competitive coexistence” with China will be a defining feature of the summit, shaping not just the future of the bloc but also the geopolitical landscape of Asia.
