China's Xi Jinping to visit India with 400-member delegation for Brics: Report
Reports indicate Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to travel to New Delhi for the BRICS Summit scheduled for September 2026, accompanied by a delegation of around 400 officials
This would be Xi's first visit to India in seven years, and a substantially larger delegation than the roughly 200-member team that accompanied his previous visit
The prospective visit is being read as a further sign of stabilizing ties between the two countries following the 2020 border standoff, alongside NSA-level Special Representatives talks held around the same time
India currently holds the BRICS chairmanship for 2026 and is hosting the summit
Final travel plans and the agenda for any bilateral engagement between the two leaders remain to be confirmed
BRICS: Origin, 2024 Expansion, and India's 2026 Chairmanship
BRICS began as an informal grouping identified by an acronym coined for four large emerging economies, later formalized into a summit-level bloc and subsequently expanded to include West Asian and African members.
Key Details
- The term "BRIC" was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill
- First BRIC summit: 2009, Yekaterinburg, Russia (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
- South Africa joined in 2010, making it "BRICS"
- 2024 expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates became full members effective January 2024; Saudi Arabia was invited but has not finalized its accession; Indonesia joined as a full member in January 2025
- India assumed the BRICS chairmanship on January 1, 2026, hosting the 18th BRICS Summit under the theme "Building Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"
Xi's prospective visit would be to attend this India-chaired, now ten-member summit — the scale of the reported delegation (~400) is being read as a marker of the importance Beijing attaches to it.
India-China Summit Diplomacy: Informal Summits vs Multilateral Sideline Meetings
India-China leader-level diplomacy has followed distinct formats over the past decade — dedicated "informal summits" without a fixed agenda, versus meetings on the margins of multilateral gatherings.
Key Details
- Wuhan Informal Summit: April 2018 — first informal summit format, aimed at leader-level rapport-building without a structured agenda or joint statement
- Chennai (Mamallapuram) Informal Summit: October 2019 — the second and, until 2026, the most recent visit by Xi Jinping to India
- The 2020 Galwan clash froze the dedicated informal summit track; subsequent Modi-Xi interactions occurred only on the margins of multilateral summits (e.g., SCO, G20, BRICS)
- A 2026 meeting during the BRICS Summit would therefore be a multilateral-sideline bilateral, not a revived dedicated informal summit
The report that this is Xi's "first visit in seven years" directly references the October 2019 Chennai Informal Summit as the baseline, underscoring how the format of engagement has shifted from dedicated summits to multilateral-sideline meetings since 2020.
New Development Bank (NDB) and BRICS Institutional Architecture
BRICS has built dedicated financial institutions distinct from the Bretton Woods system, relevant to its positioning as a Global South-oriented platform.
Key Details
- New Development Bank (NDB): established 2014 at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil; headquartered in Shanghai
- NDB extends financing for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member and partner countries, positioned as an alternative/supplement to the World Bank and IMF
- The Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), also agreed at Fortaleza in 2014, provides a mutual currency-swap facility among members during balance-of-payments stress
India's 2026 chairmanship theme of "resilience" and "sustainability" builds on this institutional architecture, and Xi's attendance would be read as continued Chinese engagement with BRICS-led alternative financial mechanisms even as bilateral border issues are separately negotiated.
- BRICS Summit 2026: hosted by India, New Delhi, September 2026
- Reported delegation size for Xi Jinping's visit: approximately 400 officials, compared to fewer than 200 during his 2019 visit
- Last confirmed Xi Jinping visit to India: October 2019 (Chennai/Mamallapuram Informal Summit)
- BRICS 2024 expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE (full members from January 2024); Indonesia (full member from January 2025)
- India assumed BRICS chairmanship: January 1, 2026
- New Development Bank established: 2014, Fortaleza Summit, Brazil; headquartered in Shanghai