India has proposed establishing a BRICS Incubator Network and BRICS Startup Innovation Fund to promote innovation-led growth, as reported by the commerce and industry ministry. The proposals were made at the 10th BRICS Industry Ministers' Meeting held in Jaipur on Thursday, which brought together industry ministers and senior officials from member countries under the Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR). The ministers adopted a joint declaration to deepen industrial cooperation across MSMEs, photovoltaics, startups and logistics, with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal emphasizing that BRICS countries should leverage their complementary strengths to build resilient industries.
The BRICS countries have agreed to deepen cooperation on official statistics under India's chairship theme, "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." According to reports from Business Standard, the statistics track has been anchored around the theme "Quality Statistics as Driver of Change." The two-day meeting held on August 3-4 in Lucknow brought together statisticians from BRICS member countries to discuss ways to improve the quality, accessibility and comparability of official data.
The joint statement identified four priority areas for enhanced cooperation: digital platforms for data dissemination, reforms in national statistical systems to address the evolving data ecosystem, identifying common innovation areas for possible BRICS collaboration, and strengthening macroeconomic and sectoral statistics. As reported by Business Standard, the officials agreed to exchange best practices in survey modernisation, digital data collection, data dissemination, and data anonymisation, and to explore opportunities for collaborative pilot projects and technical cooperation in identified innovation areas.
The cooperation framework includes flagging the need to periodically update information on national statistical reforms, including the use of administrative and alternative data sources, artificial intelligence and capacity-building initiatives. According to the joint statement reported by Business Standard, another priority will be a regular mechanism for sharing experience and building capacity around the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2025 (SNA 2025), which BRICS countries said would help ensure a smooth and coordinated transition.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stated that the agenda reflects India's push for data quality, innovation, effective dissemination and people-centric statistical systems that can keep pace with technological change. As reported by Business Standard, robust statistics are increasingly central to modern BRICS policymaking, helping member countries track development, guide decisions and build mutual understanding. The officials reaffirmed the importance of strengthening official statistics to respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by the changing data environment.
