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India Balances BRICS Reform With China’s Greater BRICS Push
India hosted a major BRICS meeting in New Delhi in September 2026.
BRICS includes countries that want more influence in the world.
India said the group should not become an organization against the United States or other Western countries.
Instead, it should help make global institutions more representative.
Members discussed trade, payments, technology, health, food, energy, and supply chains.
India also kept working with Russia while trying to improve relations with China.
The meeting with China produced limited progress rather than a complete reset.
India expects China to push for a stronger BRICS when it hosts the summit in 2027.
India promoted BRICS as a platform for reform without making it explicitly anti-Western.
The New Delhi Summit emphasized national-currency settlements, digital infrastructure, supply chains, and reform of global institutions.
Members endorsed the New Delhi Declaration despite differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Narendra Modi’s meetings with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping maintained India’s strategic partnerships while addressing Russia and China-related concerns.
Nirupama Menon Rao said China’s 2027 BRICS presidency could test India’s resistance to a China-led geopolitical bloc.
- Who
- India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BRICS members, and former foreign secretary Nirupama Menon Rao.
- What
- India used the BRICS summit to support international reform while opposing the group becoming explicitly anti-Western or China-led.
- Where
- New Delhi, India, hosted the 18th BRICS Summit; China will host the 2027 summit.
- When
- The summit took place on September 12 and 13, 2026; China will host the next summit in 2027.
- Why
- India wants greater Global South representation and more diplomatic and economic choices without losing access to Western markets, capital, and technology.
India’s Reform-Without-Rupture Approach
China’s Potential Greater BRICS Approach
Relationship with the West
India’s Reform-Without-Rupture Approach
India wants BRICS to remain non-Western without becoming explicitly anti-Western, preserving access to Western markets, capital, and technology.
China’s Potential Greater BRICS Approach
China is expected to push for reduced dependence on Western financial systems.
BRICS’s strategic role
India’s Reform-Without-Rupture Approach
India views BRICS as a way to widen its diplomatic choices and prevent any single power or coalition from monopolizing the existing international order.
China’s Potential Greater BRICS Approach
China may seek stronger political coordination and a more consolidated BRICS grouping under the idea of a “Greater BRICS.”
Relations with Russia and China
India’s Reform-Without-Rupture Approach
India supports engagement with Russia and China while rejecting alignment with a Russian-Chinese bloc or a China-led geopolitical pole.
China’s Potential Greater BRICS Approach
Russia has promoted a more confrontational view of BRICS as an alternative order challenging Western rules, according to Rao’s assessment.
Key facts
- Summit
- India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, 2026.
- BRICS membership
- The summit involved the expanded 11-member BRICS grouping.
- Declaration
- All members endorsed the New Delhi Declaration despite differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
- Economic focus
- Discussions covered national-currency settlements, faster cross-border payments, supply chains, digital public infrastructure, health, food, and energy security.
- India-Russia ties
- Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed ties involving energy, defense, technology, manufacturing, and industrial cooperation.
- India-China ties
- Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping discussed business links, mobility, cultural exchanges, trade imbalance, supply chains, and market access.
- Next test
- Nirupama Menon Rao identified China’s 2027 BRICS presidency as a test for India’s approach.
Quotes
Nirupama Menon Rao
Former Indian foreign secretary and former ambassador to the United States
“Beijing will probably push for a 'Greater BRICS', stronger political coordination and reduced dependence on Western financial systems.”
businesstoday.in
“It provides India more room for manoeuvre, in an age of unstable multipolarity.”
businesstoday.in
Sources
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