"India Hosts 18th BRICS Summit Amid Tensions Over Grouping's Direction"
Strategic Autonomy
India's foreign policy principle of engaging multiple power centres without binding alliance commitments.
Multi-alignment
Active simultaneous participation in overlapping groupings such as BRICS, SCO, Quad, and G20.
BRICS began as BRIC in 2006, following a Goldman Sachs projection identifying Brazil, Russia, India, and China as future engines of global growth. It evolved from a foreign ministers' dialogue into a full leaders' forum, with its first summit held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010, formalising the BRICS acronym. The grouping's founding premise was that the existing international order, shaped largely by Western-led institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN Security Council, did not adequately represent the economic weight of large emerging economies.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was formally established in 2001, evolving from the earlier Shanghai Five framework. Its founding charter committed members to combating the 'three evils': terrorism, separatism, and extremism. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017 at the Astana Summit. Iran joined in 2023, and Belarus became the newest full member in 2024, bringing total full membership to ten states. India's strategic priorities within the SCO were articulated through the 'SECURE' framework at the 2018 Qingdao Summit, covering Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment.
India's foreign policy rests on the principle of strategic autonomy, the ability to engage multiple power centres without binding alliance commitments. This posture, rooted in the Non-Aligned Movement tradition, has evolved into what analysts call multi-alignment: simultaneous, active participation in overlapping groupings including BRICS, the G20, the Quad, and the SCO. India's engagement in these forums has never been about confronting the West. It has been about expanding India's agenda-setting capacity on issues such as climate finance, trade reform, and development financing.
BRICS has undergone dramatic expansion in recent years. In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE joined as full members. Indonesia became the 11th full member in January 2025, bringing the grouping to its current size. This expansion has shifted BRICS from a compact grouping of five large economies into a broader coalition spanning multiple continents and development levels. A key institutional contribution from India came at the 2012 New Delhi summit, where India proposed a BRICS development bank. This became the New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, which has since approved approximately $44 billion across 141 projects by mid-2026. The NDB is the grouping's most concrete institutional achievement and a direct alternative to Western-dominated multilateral lending.
The SCO's apex body, the Council of Heads of State, meets annually to set strategic direction, while the Council of Heads of Government focuses on economic cooperation. …
Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS:
I.16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan.
II.Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS.
III.The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was 'Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security'.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The 'Fortaleza Declaration', recently in the news, is related to the affairs of
'The West is fostering India as an alternative to reduce dependence on China's supply chain and as a strategic ally to counter China's political and economic dominance.' Explain this statement with examples.
'The expansion and strengthening of NATO and a stronger US-Europe strategic partnership works well for India.' What is your opinion about this statement? Give reasons and examples to support your answer.
Consider the following statements regarding BRICS:
1.Indonesia became the 11th full member of BRICS in January 2025.
2.The New Development Bank was proposed by China at the 2012 BRICS Summit.
3.The expanded BRICS grouping accounts for a larger share of global GDP (PPP) than the G7.
4.BRICS operates on the principle of consensus for joint declarations.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Match the following BRICS-related items:
List I (Declaration/Institution) — List II (Associated Summit/Year)
A.Fortaleza Declaration — 1. 2009 (Yekaterinburg)
B.First BRICS Leaders' Summit — 2. 2014 (Brazil)
C.New Development Bank proposed — 3. 2012 (New Delhi)
D.South Africa joins BRICS — 4. 2010
Select the correct match using the codes below:
With reference to the New Development Bank (NDB), consider the following statements:
1.It was proposed by India at the 2012 BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
2.Its headquarters are located in Beijing, China.
3.By mid-2026, it had approved approximately $44 billion across 141 projects.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following statements about BRICS expansion:
1.Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined BRICS as full members in 2024.
2.Indonesia became a full member of BRICS in 2024.
3.The 2026 BRICS Chairship is held by India under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following best describes India's stated position within BRICS on the question of de-dollarisation and the grouping's strategic orientation?
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