From Investment Term to Political Club
Believe it or not, BRICS started as a catchy acronym. In 2001, Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill coined "BRIC" to group four promising emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He argued their growth was set to reshape the global economy.
The countries themselves liked the sound of it. Seeing a chance to increase their collective influence, they turned the economic concept into a political forum. The first formal meeting of BRIC foreign ministers happened in 2006, followed by the first leaders' summit in Russia in 2009. In 2010, the group invited South Africa to join, officially changing the acronym to BRICS and giving the bloc representation on the African continent.
A Rapidly Growing Family
For over a decade, the five-member bloc remained stable. Then came a major growth spurt. In January 2024, five new countries became full members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia followed in January 2025, becoming the group's eleventh member and first from Southeast Asia. The expansion significantly boosts the bloc's demographic and economic weight. The 11 members now represent nearly half the world's population and around 40% of global GDP. This move is central to the group's ambition to build a more "multipolar" world order, giving a larger platform to nations of the Global South.
What Does BRICS Want to Achieve?
The core mission of BRICS is to increase the influence of emerging economies and challenge the Western-dominated global system. Members advocate for reforms at institutions like the UN Security Council, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, arguing these bodies don't adequately represent the developing world. A major focus is reducing dependence on the US dollar. This ambition, often called "de-dollarization," involves promoting the use of local currencies in trade between member nations. To create a parallel financial system, BRICS established the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) as alternatives to the World Bank and IMF, respectively. The goal is to offer funding for infrastructure and development without the political strings often attached to Western loans.
Ambition vs. Reality
While the vision is grand, the results have been mixed. The New Development Bank (NDB) is the bloc's most concrete achievement. Since its launch in 2015, the bank has approved tens of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in member countries, focusing on areas like clean energy and transport. However, the push for de-dollarization has made little headway. While trade in local currencies is increasing between some members, like Russia and China, creating a common BRICS currency faces immense hurdles and remains a distant dream. Furthermore, Western sanctions have hampered the NDB's operations. The bloc acts more as an informal club for coordinating policy rather than a formal alliance with a binding charter, relying on consensus which can be difficult to achieve.
The Elephant in the Room: Internal Divisions
The bloc's biggest challenge may come from within. There are vast economic disparities, with China's economy dwarfing all other members combined. This creates an imbalance of power. Geopolitical rivalries also cause friction. The long-standing border dispute and regional competition between India and China, for instance, create underlying tension. Member countries also have different foreign policy alignments. While nations like Russia, China, and Iran are openly critical of the United States, others like India and Brazil maintain complex relationships with the West. This makes it difficult for the group to take a unified stance on many global issues, from the war in Ukraine to UN reforms.
India’s Strategic Tightrope Walk
For India, chairing the 2026 summit, BRICS is a crucial part of a delicate balancing act. Membership allows India to champion the interests of the Global South and push for a more equitable world order, a cornerstone of its foreign policy. It provides a platform to engage with China and Russia outside of a Western framework. At the same time, India balances its BRICS role with its participation in groups like the Quad, a strategic security dialogue with the US, Japan, and Australia. This policy of "strategic autonomy" allows New Delhi to navigate a complex world without being tied to any single bloc. India uses the forum to push its priorities, like counter-terrorism cooperation and digital public infrastructure, while ensuring the group doesn't become exclusively an anti-West platform.
