The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi concluded on September 13, 2026, with India successfully hosting the expanded grouping of 11 nations - Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE - under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. According to the Indian government, the expanded grouping now collectively represents about 49.5% of the global population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade. The summit has moved beyond broad political commitments to deliver commercial outcomes that companies can actually use, with India successfully pushing for easier market access and fairer opportunities to sell into the bloc it helped build. As per PIB, the government has already advanced work on the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2030, focusing on services, digital trade, global value chains and MSME internationalisation.
India's trade relationship with BRICS nations has become increasingly lopsided, with the trade deficit widening to $226.1 billion in FY2025-26 even as overall trade with the bloc has grown to approximately $417.5 billion, according to fresh trade data. This represents a significant increase from the $117 billion deficit recorded in CY2021, with China and Russia being the two biggest contributors to India's trade imbalance. As per NDTV, the deficit with China alone is concentrated in machinery, electronics, components, chemicals and other industrial inputs that are deeply embedded in Indian manufacturing, with imports above $131.6 billion against exports below $19.5 billion. The analysis shows that imports have climbed faster at 131.8% to $321.8 billion while exports have risen 48.8% to $95.7 billion, creating a substantial trade gap where BRICS now takes in only around 22% of India's exports while supplying more than 40% of its imports. A separate calendar-year analysis by Rubix Data Sciences puts India's BRICS trade deficit at $224 billion in CY2025, up from $117 billion in CY2021. Recent developments show that rupee settlement is growing across all trading partners, with the currency accounting for 2.66% of India's reported goods-import settlements in fiscal 2025-26, rising to 8.14% in April-June 2026.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has emerged as a strong voice for Indian industry ahead of the New Delhi summit, calling for BRICS to move beyond strategic dialogue and provide measurable outcomes in exports, investment, technology partnerships and strong supply chains. This matters particularly for sectors where India already has competitive capabilities, including pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, chemicals, automobiles and components, textiles, agricultural products, IT and business services. As per PIB, the government has already pushed this agenda during the BRICS Trade Ministers' Meeting in Jaipur, with advanced work on the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2030 focusing on services, digital trade, global value chains and MSME internationalisation. The summit has successfully delivered easier market access for Indian exporters, with the real test now being whether BRICS can move from broad political commitments to commercial outcomes that companies can actually use.
The Brics summit in New Delhi has highlighted significant contradictions among its three strongest members - Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin. According to reports from Business Standard, the three leaders share more contradictions than congruence, with each maintaining different worldviews and adversaries. While the summit appears to show a united front against the 'evil West' or Donald Trump, the underlying dynamics reveal complex relationships where Russia and China are allies, India treats China as an existential adversary, and both Russia and China view India as weak enough to be dominated. The summit has been characterized as the most irrelevant of such groupings, with no common purpose beyond image-building. As per AP analysis, the Global South is not a homogeneous entity, hence the grouping will find it hard to manage and mediate in these conflicts. India will project its strategic autonomy by being part of a non-West grouping but also finds it useful to engage with China, its primary strategic rival, according to Praveen Donthi, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.
India's position in the Brics framework reveals significant vulnerabilities in its economic relationships with the two powers. As reported by NDTV, India accounts for just over 10% of China's trade surplus at $112 billion, making it a crucial component of China's trade strategy. The analysis shows that India's exports would come to a standstill if components, ingredients, or bulk chemicals did not come from China, creating a dependency that weakens India's negotiating position. Similarly, Russia maintains a trade surplus of about $45 billion with India, with India remaining the biggest current and prospective buyer of Russian weaponry, particularly if sanctions are lifted. This dual dependency on both China and Russia for essential goods and defense technologies significantly constrains India's strategic options, with the country-wise breakdown for FY2025-26 making clear this is not a uniform problem across all BRICS members. Delhi-based think tank GTRI has separately flagged India's increasing reliance on Chinese industrial inputs as a structural risk to watch, even as the country's overall trade position is cushioned by strong services exports and remittance inflows.
The economic disparities within Brics highlight the limitations of the grouping as a strategic alliance. According to Business Standard analysis, the ten Brics countries together have aggregate GDP of $6 trillion less than China alone at $20.85 trillion against China's $14.33 trillion. When counting only the original members - India, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa - their combined GDP is less than half of China at $9.29 trillion. This economic imbalance undermines any claims of Brics as a counterweight to Western powers, with the grouping lacking the economic heft to challenge established international financial systems. The analysis suggests that de-dollarisation fantasies are unrealistic, as the dollar will not be replaced by the rupee or rouble in the near future. As per AP reports, the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine are likely to highlight those divisions, as the grouping includes countries with competing regional ambitions, including India and China, Russia and Egypt, and Ethiopia, as well as other nations from the Global South.
