Does the BRICS summit signify a shift for Indian foreign policy?
The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi on 12–13 September 2026 under India's chairship, concluding with the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration.
The declaration placed renewed emphasis on reform of global governance institutions, strengthening multilateralism, and making international bodies more representative of developing-country interests.
Analysts have characterised the summit's outcome as a shift for BRICS from a primarily economic, trade-oriented grouping toward a broader political forum for the Global South, while noting that India continues to treat BRICS as one of several platforms rather than an exclusive bloc.
In the same period, India also concluded other significant external engagements, including a free trade agreement with the European Union, reflecting a pattern of simultaneous engagement across multiple, sometimes competing, international groupings.
BRICS: Origins, Expansion, and Institutional Architecture
BRICS began as an informal grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, holding its first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009; South Africa joined in 2010–11, forming the acronym BRICS. In 2024, the grouping expanded further to admit Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, with Indonesia formally joining as a full member in January 2025, taking the core membership to eleven countries alongside a separate category of "partner countries."
The New Delhi Declaration and the 2026 summit under India's chairship represent BRICS's continued evolution from a narrow economic caucus into a broader platform for coordinating developing-country positions on global governance reform, a trajectory traceable to the 2009 founding summit and the 2024–25 expansion.
India's Strategic Autonomy and Multi-Alignment Doctrine
Strategic autonomy refers to India's foreign policy principle of making independent decisions on international engagement without being bound to any single power bloc or alliance system, a doctrine with roots in India's Cold War-era policy of Non-Alignment (formalised through the Non-Aligned Movement, founded 1961). In its contemporary form, this has evolved into "multi-alignment" — simultaneous, issue-based engagement with multiple, sometimes rival, groupings.
Framing BRICS as "one of several tables" rather than a bloc commitment is a direct application of India's multi-alignment doctrine, under which participation in a grouping is evaluated by the specific gains it offers rather than by ideological alignment with other members.
Reform of Global Governance Institutions as a BRICS and G20 Theme
Reform of global governance institutions refers to demands — long voiced by developing countries and repeated in BRICS declarations — for restructuring bodies such as the UN Security Council, IMF, and World Bank to better reflect current economic and demographic realities rather than the post-1945 or post-Bretton-Woods distribution of power.
Key Details
- BRICS declarations since the grouping's early summits have consistently called for expanding the UN Security Council's permanent and non-permanent categories to include greater representation from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- IMF quota reform — adjusting voting shares to reflect the growing weight of emerging economies — has been a recurring BRICS and G20 demand since the 2010 IMF quota and governance reforms, which increased the collective quota share of emerging markets.
- India used its concurrent leadership roles (G20 presidency in 2023, BRICS chairship in 2026) to link these reform demands across forums, framing itself as a bridge between developed and developing-country blocs.
The New Delhi Declaration's emphasis on institutional reform continues this established BRICS theme, with India's dual experience chairing both the G20 (2023) and BRICS (2026) positioning it to press the same governance-reform agenda across multiple multilateral platforms.
- BRICS held its first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009; South Africa joined in 2010–11.
- 2024 expansion added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE; Indonesia joined as a full member in January 2025, bringing core membership to eleven.
- The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi on 12–13 September 2026, adopting the New Delhi Declaration; this was India's fourth BRICS chairship (after 2012, 2016, 2021).
- The New Development Bank was established in 2015 and is headquartered in Shanghai.
- India held the G20 presidency in 2023 and the BRICS chairship in 2026, both years it hosted the respective summit in New Delhi.