BRICS

BRICS is a group of major emerging economies that meet every year to work together on the world economy, trade, finance and global governance. The name comes from the first letters of its first five members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Since 2024 it has expanded to include more countries from Asia, Africa and West Asia. It is not a military alliance and not a trade bloc with common tariffs. It is a forum for cooperation, with two financial institutions of its own.

Why does it exist?

After the Second World War, the main global bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, were designed mostly by Western countries. Voting power in them still leans heavily towards the US and Europe. As countries like China, India and Brazil grew fast, they felt their voice in these bodies did not match their economic weight.

BRICS gives them a platform to push for reform of global institutions, to trade and invest more with each other, and to build their own financial safety nets. Think of it as a group of fast-growing students who feel the school council does not hear them, so they form their own study circle while still staying in the school.

Where did it come from?

• 2001: The term "BRIC" was coined by Jim O'Neill, an economist at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, in a report titled "Building Better Global Economic BRICs". He predicted that Brazil, Russia, India and China would become major economic powers. At this stage it was only an investment idea, not a group.
• September 2006: The foreign ministers of the four countries met for the first time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. This was the start of BRIC as a political group.
• 16 June 2009: The first BRIC leaders' summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
• 2010: South Africa was invited to join. It became a member on 24 December 2010, and BRIC became BRICS. South Africa attended its first summit at Sanya, China, in April 2011.
• July 2014: At the Fortaleza (Brazil) summit, members signed agreements to set up the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). Both became active in 2015.
• August 2023: At the Johannesburg (South Africa) summit, six countries were invited to join: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• 1 January 2024: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE joined. Argentina declined and formally withdrew its application in December 2023. Saudi Arabia has not clearly confirmed its membership.
• October 2024: At the Kazan (Russia) summit, a new "partner country" category was created, and 13 countries were invited to become partners.
• 6 January 2025: Indonesia joined as a full member.
• 2026: India held the BRICS chairship from 1 January 2026 and hosted the 18th summit in New Delhi on 12-13 September 2026, which adopted the New Delhi Declaration. China will chair in 2027.

Who are the members and partners?

• Full members (10 clearly confirmed): Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia.
• Saudi Arabia: Official BRICS and Indian government sources list it as the 11th member, but Saudi Arabia itself has not formally confirmed accession, and its representatives have attended as an invited country. So its status is ambiguous.
• Partner countries (10): Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Partners attend parts of summits and join some cooperation, but are not full members. Nigeria joined as a partner in January 2025 and Vietnam in June 2025.

How does BRICS work?

• No charter and no permanent secretariat. BRICS does not have a founding treaty or a headquarters office, unlike the UN or ASEAN. It works through meetings and declarations.
• Rotating chairship: One member chairs the group each year and hosts the annual summit. The chair sets the theme and agenda. India has chaired BRICS in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2026.
• Decisions by consensus: All members must agree. No country can be outvoted.
• Three pillars of cooperation: (1) political and security, (2) economic and financial, and (3) cultural and people-to-people ties.
• Many tracks of meetings: besides the leaders' summit, there are meetings of foreign ministers, finance ministers and central bank governors, national security advisers, and groups on trade, health, agriculture, energy and more.

The two BRICS financial institutions

• New Development Bank (NDB): a development bank that lends money for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member and other developing countries. It is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Its initial authorised capital is $100 billion, and the initial subscribed capital of $50 billion was shared equally among the five founding members, so no single founder dominates it. Its first President was K.V. Kamath of India. Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt and Algeria later joined as members, and Colombia and Uzbekistan were approved in 2025. Membership of the NDB is open to UN members; a country can join the NDB without being a BRICS member.
• Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA): a $100 billion pool of foreign currency reserves that members promise to lend to each other if one faces a sudden shortage of dollars (a balance of payments crisis). It works like a family emergency fund. Pledges: China $41 billion; Brazil, India and Russia $18 billion each; South Africa $5 billion. The money is not kept in one place; each country keeps its share and lends it only when needed.

How big is BRICS?

As of 2024-25:

• The members together have close to half the world's population, and over half if partner countries are counted.
• On GDP measured at purchasing power parity (PPP), which adjusts for price differences between countries, members account for about 40% of world GDP (IMF data cited by the 2025 BRICS presidency).
• At market exchange rates, their share is lower, at roughly 29% of world GDP.
• The group includes some of the world's largest energy producers (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE) and largest energy consumers (China, India).

India's position and Indian examples

• India sees BRICS as a platform for reformed multilateralism: reform of the UN Security Council, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, so that developing countries get a fair voice.
• India's stated view is that BRICS is "non-Western", not "anti-Western". India is also a member of groups such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the US, Japan and Australia, and has close ties with the West. So India resists any attempt to turn BRICS into an anti-US bloc.
• India has been cautious about a common BRICS currency and about rapid expansion. It supports trade in national currencies and better cross-border payment links instead. India's UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is often cited as a model for digital payments cooperation.
• India uses BRICS to raise counter-terrorism. BRICS declarations have condemned attacks on India, such as the 2025 Pahalgam attack in the New Delhi Declaration.
• India was a founding member of the NDB and its first President was Indian. The NDB has funded many projects in India, in areas such as water, transport and renewable energy.

Commonly confused concepts

• BRICS vs G20: The G20 has 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union, and includes both rich Western economies (the US, UK, Germany, Japan) and emerging economies. BRICS has only emerging and developing economies. India is a member of both.
• BRICS vs SCO: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), formed in 2001, focuses mainly on security in Eurasia (terrorism, extremism, separatism), has a permanent secretariat in Beijing and a charter. BRICS focuses mainly on economics and global governance and has neither.
• NDB vs AIIB: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a separate, China-led bank based in Beijing, with over 100 members, where China has the largest vote share. The NDB is the BRICS bank based in Shanghai, where founders hold equal shares. India is a member of both.
• CRA vs IMF: Both lend to countries in a currency crisis. The IMF has a large permanent pool of money, global membership and strict lending conditions. The CRA is a smaller promise among BRICS members only, and a large part of its lending is linked to the borrower also having an IMF programme.
• Full member vs partner country: A full member takes part in all decisions and summits. A partner country is invited to some meetings and cooperation, but does not take part in all decisions.
• BRIC vs BRICS vs "BRICS+": BRIC was the original four (2006-2010). BRICS added South Africa (from 2010). "BRICS+" or expanded BRICS is the informal name for the group after the 2024 expansion.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Internal differences: Members have very different political systems and interests. India and China have a border dispute, and their rivalry limits deep cooperation. Several members also compete with each other for influence.
• China's weight: China's economy is larger than all other members combined. Critics worry BRICS could become a vehicle for Chinese interests. Equal shareholding in the NDB was designed partly to prevent this.
• Expansion dilutes focus: More members bring more voice, but also more disagreement, and decisions by consensus become harder. Saudi Arabia's unclear status shows the difficulty.
• Limited delivery: The NDB is still small compared with the World Bank, and the CRA has never been used in a crisis. Plans for a joint payment system have moved slowly.
• Perception of an anti-West bloc: Some Western governments view the expanded BRICS as a challenge to the US-led order, especially with Russia and Iran as members. This creates pressure on countries like India that want good ties with all sides.
• De-dollarisation debate: Some members want to reduce dependence on the US dollar. Others, including India, prefer a gradual approach based on national currencies and do not support a common currency.
• Way forward: Experts suggest BRICS focus on practical results: more NDB lending in local currencies, faster cross-border payments, cooperation on food and energy security, and a united push for IMF quota reform and WTO dispute settlement reform.

Concepts to Know

• Emerging economy: A country that is growing fast and becoming more industrial and modern, but is not yet as rich as developed countries. India, Brazil and Indonesia are examples.
• Summit: A meeting of heads of state or government (presidents and prime ministers).
• Consensus: A decision that every member agrees to. If even one member objects, the decision cannot be taken.
• Development bank: A bank set up by governments to give long-term loans for projects like roads, power and water, often at lower cost than private banks.
• Balance of payments crisis: When a country runs short of foreign currency (mainly dollars) to pay for its imports and repay foreign loans. India faced one in 1991.
• Authorised vs subscribed capital: Authorised capital is the maximum capital a bank is allowed to raise. Subscribed capital is the part that members have actually promised to put in.
• Multilateralism: Countries solving shared problems together through international bodies and rules, rather than each acting alone. "Reformed multilateralism" means changing those bodies so they reflect today's world.
• De-dollarisation: Efforts by countries to use less of the US dollar in trade, loans and reserves, and more of their own or other currencies.
• Purchasing power parity (PPP): A way of comparing economies that adjusts for the fact that the same money buys more in some countries than in others.