India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, 2026, with a plan to shift the bloc’s talk from geopolitics to practical economic work. The harder job may be keeping its members from splitting over West Asia.
BRIC began as Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2011. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE became members in 2024, and Indonesia followed in 2025, bringing the total to 11, plus partner countries. The first BRIC foreign ministers’ meeting took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2006, and the first summit was in Yekaterinburg in 2009.
The Iran and UAE pairing is the awkward one. With both inside the bloc, producing strong common positions on sensitive conflicts could be difficult, and the summit’s biggest test may be holding consensus on West Asia.
India’s four-part agenda
New Delhi’s chairship carries the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” Resilience means preparing economies and supply chains for geopolitical disruption, climate events and health emergencies. Innovation covers artificial intelligence, fintech and digital public infrastructure. Cooperation takes in trade and development finance. Sustainability centers on climate action, green financing and the energy transition.
Trade is expected to dominate. India is pushing the BRICS Economic Partnership 2030 and a multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core. A proposed invoice discounting mechanism could help smaller exporters reach trade finance. The BRICS Global Value Chains Action Plan 2026-2030 aims to diversify supply chains and encourage investment among members.
For small business, India has proposed a BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal linking firms with financial institutions, technology centers, training organizations and policymakers. A BRICS Incubator Network would connect startup incubators, and a proposed Startup Innovation Fund could finance early- and growth-stage companies. Whether any of it works will depend on funding, implementation and business participation.
On agriculture, India promotes the BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, which brings AI, geospatial technology and data-driven farming together. Other items include a forum on farmers’ rights in seed systems and BRICS AGRIN, which deals with agricultural inputs, genetic resources and information.
Health ministers adopted a declaration in July covering universal health coverage, pandemic preparedness, digital health, affordable medicines, vaccines and medical technologies. Mental-wellness cooperation, coordinated through NIMHANS, is an emerging area.
On energy, members have adopted principles on smart grids and energy storage and a digital center of excellence for knowledge-sharing and pilot projects. The wider list includes renewables, hydrogen, biofuels, critical minerals and carbon capture. Voluntary principles for climate-resilient urban infrastructure ask governments to weigh climate and disaster risk in building decisions. India also wants a sustainable public transport mobility hub and a BRICS Digital Public Infrastructure Repository for sharing knowledge and possible pilots.
