Jaishankar calls for resilient supply chains, predictable business environment across BRICS countries
At the BRICS Business Forum 2026 in New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry called for more predictable business environments, resilient supply chains, and diversified trade relationships among BRICS nations.
The address framed the grouping's economic strength as depending on its ability to absorb global shocks (from conflicts, pandemics, and climate-related disruption) while remaining competitive and connected.
Genuine market practices, dependable logistics, predictable business environments, diversified commercial relationships, and transparent trade and investment were listed as the building blocks of economic resilience.
The address linked "self-reliance" to higher intra-BRICS economic activity rather than to inward-looking protectionism.
India's BRICS chairship initiatives on startups and innovation were highlighted, including a BRICS incubator network connecting startups across member countries and a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund.
Supply-Chain Resilience — "Friend-shoring," "China+1" and Diversification Strategy
Supply-chain resilience refers to a trade and industrial-policy shift, accelerated after COVID-19 disruptions (2020-21) and geopolitical shocks (Russia-Ukraine conflict, West Asia tensions), away from efficiency-maximising single-source/single-country supply chains toward diversified, redundant, and geopolitically aligned sourcing.
Key Details
- "China+1" strategy: firms diversify manufacturing/sourcing to at least one additional country beyond China, to reduce over-concentration risk; India, Vietnam, and Mexico have been key beneficiaries.
- "Friend-shoring" (a term popularised around 2022 by the US Treasury): relocating supply chains to countries considered geopolitically aligned or trusted partners, rather than purely on cost grounds.
- India's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme (launched 2020, extended across 14 sectors) is India's domestic policy instrument to attract manufacturing investment amid this global supply-chain reconfiguration.
- The concept differs from "protectionism": resilience-focused diversification still involves open, multi-country trade — it seeks redundancy and reduced concentration risk, not self-sufficiency in isolation.
The Ministry's emphasis on "diversified supply chains" and "trade flowing in both directions" reflects this post-pandemic global shift toward resilience-oriented trade policy, positioning BRICS cooperation as a vehicle for diversification among emerging economies rather than reliance on any single trading partner.
Economic Security and Strategic Autonomy — India's Foreign Policy Doctrine
"Economic security" describes a state's ability to protect its economic interests, critical supply chains, and strategic sectors from external shocks or coercion, an idea now formally part of trade and foreign-policy discourse. It links closely to India's broader doctrine of "strategic autonomy" — pursuing multiple partnerships (not bloc alignment) to maximise India's own room for manoeuvre.
Key Details
- Strategic autonomy has been articulated as a continuation of India's Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)-era foreign policy tradition, adapted for a multipolar, post-Cold War world; India engages simultaneously with BRICS, the Quad (with the US, Japan, Australia), and the G20 without treating them as mutually exclusive blocs.
- "Multi-alignment" is the term often used for India's current approach: deepening economic and security ties with multiple, sometimes rival, power centres (e.g., BRICS members Russia and China alongside Quad partners) based on issue-specific interests.
- Critical mineral security (e.g., lithium, rare earths) is a frequently cited example of "economic security" in Indian policy discourse, given import dependence on a small number of countries.
- The framing of "self-reliance through greater economic activity" (rather than import-substitution-style self-sufficiency) marks a shift from India's pre-1991 economic strategy toward an open, integration-based conception of resilience.
Linking "self-reliance" to deeper BRICS economic engagement (rather than protectionism) reflects India's current strategic-autonomy approach — using multiple multilateral platforms, including BRICS, to build economic security through diversified partnerships rather than isolation.
BRICS Innovation Architecture — Startup Ecosystem Linkages
Beyond trade and payments, BRICS has developed dedicated mechanisms to support cross-border innovation and entrepreneurship cooperation, which India has actively used during its 2026 chairship.
Key Details
- A BRICS Innovation/Incubator network aims to formally connect national startup incubators across member countries, enabling cross-border mentorship, market access and co-investment for early-stage ventures.
- A BRICS Startup Innovation Fund concept has been advanced as a dedicated funding mechanism to support innovation-driven, cross-border entrepreneurship among BRICS economies, distinct from the New Development Bank's project-infrastructure lending mandate.
- These sit alongside the pre-existing BRICS Business Council's Digital Economy working group, which addresses e-commerce, digital public infrastructure and fintech cooperation.
- India's domestic startup ecosystem (recognised startups, Startup India scheme launched 2016) is frequently cited as the reference model India brings to these BRICS innovation initiatives.
The reference to India's chairship-led incubator network and Startup Innovation Fund reflects a newer, innovation-focused layer of BRICS institution-building beyond the older financial-architecture bodies (NDB, CRA) — testable as an example of BRICS's evolving, non-financial cooperation mechanisms.
- "Friend-shoring" as a supply-chain diversification concept gained prominence following COVID-19 (2020-21) and subsequent geopolitical shocks (Russia-Ukraine conflict from 2022).
- India's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme: launched 2020, extended to 14 sectors, aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing amid global supply-chain reconfiguration.
- India's foreign-policy doctrine of "strategic autonomy"/"multi-alignment" allows simultaneous engagement with BRICS, the Quad, and the G20.
- BRICS innovation mechanisms referenced: a BRICS incubator network and a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, both associated with India's 2026 chairship agenda.
- India's Startup India scheme: launched January 2016, underpins the domestic startup base India references in BRICS innovation diplomacy.
- BRICS Business Forum 2026 preceded the 18th BRICS Leaders' Summit hosted by India in New Delhi under its 2026 chairship.