Brics Summit 2026: PM Modi says 'all set'; Putin to arrive in few hours - top developments
The 18th BRICS Summit convened in New Delhi on September 12-13, 2026, with India holding the rotating BRICS Chairmanship for the year
Heads of state and government of BRICS member and partner countries began arriving in New Delhi, including the President of the Russian Federation and the President of the People's Republic of China
The summit's agenda spans economic cooperation, technology, energy and food security, and reform of global governance institutions, set against the backdrop of ongoing global trade tensions
India's 2026 chairmanship is organised around the official theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," structured around four pillars
BRICS — Origin, Structure and Membership
BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping of major emerging economies that began as an informal grouping (BRIC) after its first leaders' summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009. South Africa joined in 2010-11, making it BRICS. The grouping does not have a founding treaty or a permanent secretariat; it functions through annual rotating summits, sherpa-level coordination, and sectoral ministerial tracks.
The New Delhi summit is the first BRICS leaders' summit chaired by India since the 2024-25 membership expansion, making it the first full-scale test of coordination among an eleven-member, partner-country-linked grouping.
The Rotating BRICS Chairmanship
The BRICS chairmanship rotates annually among member states in a set sequence; the chair country hosts the leaders' summit, sets the year's theme and priority pillars, and coordinates ministerial and sherpa-track meetings through the year. India has held the chairmanship four times: 2012 (New Delhi, theme "BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity"), 2016 (Goa, "Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions"), 2021 (virtual, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "BRICS@15"), and 2026.
Key Details
- India assumed the 2026 chairmanship on 1 January 2026, taking over from Brazil
- The 2012 Delhi chairmanship is significant for Prelims/Mains linkage: India's proposal for a South-financed multilateral development bank at that summit laid the institutional groundwork for the New Development Bank (NDB), established in 2014-15
- Chair country sequence has generally followed the acronym order (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) before rotating further among newer members
As the 2026 chair, India set the summit's theme and agenda (resilience, innovation, cooperation, sustainability) and is responsible for the New Delhi Declaration expected at the summit's conclusion.
Global Governance Reform in BRICS Declarations
BRICS summits routinely call for reform of multilateral institutions — particularly the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank — to better reflect the economic weight of emerging and developing economies. India has consistently used the BRICS platform to press for UNSC reform and a permanent seat, in parallel with its G4 (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan) advocacy at the UN.
Key Details
- BRICS declarations have repeatedly supported "comprehensive reform" of the UN, including expansion of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories
- BRICS is often framed as a Global South-oriented counterweight to G7-led multilateral governance, though it has no formal charter akin to the G7 or the EU
- Quota and voting-share reform at the IMF/World Bank is a recurring BRICS ask, tied to the grouping's own New Development Bank as an alternative development-finance channel
Global governance reform and addressing "current global trade tensions" are explicitly listed among the 2026 summit's discussion areas, continuing this established BRICS advocacy thread.
- Summit dates: 12-13 September 2026, New Delhi (Bharat Mandapam)
- India's 2026 BRICS theme: "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"
- BRICS founding summit: 2009, Yekaterinburg, Russia
- Current full membership: 11 countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia)
- India's prior BRICS chairmanships: 2012 (New Delhi), 2016 (Goa), 2021 (virtual)
- New Development Bank: agreement signed 2014 (Fortaleza Summit), operational since 2015, headquartered in Shanghai