Why In News?

India’s 2026 BRICS Chairship seeks to operationalize the "POWER" framework to establish the expanded eleven-member bloc as a robust, non-confrontational engine for inclusive global growth and multipolar stability.

What is BRICS?

Origins: Conceived in 2001 by Goldman Sachs as BRIC, held its first summit in Russia in 2009, and inducted South Africa in 2010. 

Membership Expansion (BRICS+): Expanded to eleven sovereign members including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia.  

  • Partner Countries: Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam 

Formidable Global Demographic Footprint: Represents approximately 47% of the world's population and 36% of the global terrestrial landmass.  

Economic Weight Surpassing G7: Generates over 37% of global GDP in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, outstripping the G7 bloc's collective 30% share.  

Dedicated Financial Institutions: Established the New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai with $100 billion authorized capital alongside the $100 billion Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA).  

What Does the ‘POWER’ Framework Mean? 

  • P — Principle: Respect for the UN Charter and Sovereign Equality: Reaffirms non-interference, territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes without selective unilateral sanctions.  

  • O — Openness: Support for an Open Multilateral Trading System: Champions the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism while opposing protectionist green tariffs like the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. 

  • W — Win-Win: Promote Inclusive Development and Mutual Benefits: Rejects zero-sum Cold War bloc mentalities by scaling shared agricultural corridors and local currency trade arrangements.  

  • E — Engine: Drive Global Growth via Economic and Tech Strengths: Deploys the bloc's demographic dividend, industrial supply chains, and AI digital public goods to revitalize sluggish post-pandemic global growth.  

  • R — Responsibility: Foster Peace, Stability and Global South Unity: Assumes collective historical responsibility to champion climate justice, debt restructuring, and reform of the United Nations Security Council. 

Core Pillar

Meaning

Strategic Mandate

Example

P — Principle

Every country is equal and independent; no big power should dictate terms or attack another nation.

Respect for the UN Charter & Sovereign Equality

New Development Bank (NDB) gives equal 20% voting shares to founding members with zero single-country veto power.

O — Openness

Global trade must stay open, transparent, and fair without rich nations blocking developing countries' goods.

Support for an Open Multilateral Trading System

Joint opposition against the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) tax on developing steel exports.

W — Win-Win

Nations work together so that every partner benefits equally instead of one country winning at another’s loss.

Promote Inclusive Development & Mutual Benefits

Direct Rupee-Dirham trade settlement between India and the UAE under the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) framework.

E — Engine

Using huge populations, energy reserves, and modern technology to power the world's economic recovery.

Drive Global Growth via Economic & Tech Strengths

Generates over 37% of global GDP in PPP terms and controls 43% of global crude oil production following BRICS+ expansion.

R — Responsibility

Taking collective action to protect world peace, solve debt crises, and secure climate funding for poor nations.

Foster Peace, Stability & Global South Unity

India convened 125 developing nations at the Voice of the Global South Summit, successfully securing African Union membership in the G20.

Why Can BRICS Become an ‘Engine’ of Global Growth?

Command of Global Energy Reserves: The expanded bloc controls 43% of global crude oil production and 38% of natural gas reserves following the accession of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iran. (Source: IEA)

Dominance in Industrial Raw Materials: Controls over 70% of global rare earth processing, graphite refining, and agricultural fertilizer exports like potash and urea. (Source: USGS)

World's Largest Consumer Market: Houses over 3.7 billion consumers driving middle-class consumption across fast-growing urban hubs in India, China, and Indonesia. (Source: World Bank)

Leading Global Clean Energy Transition: Accounts for over 50% of global installed solar and wind capacity, led by massive installations like India's Bhadla Solar Park. (Source: IRENA)

 

Alternative Trade Logistics Corridors: Develops sovereign multi-modal transit networks like the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to bypass traditional maritime transit choke-points.

How Can BRICS Empower the Global South?

Democratizing Global Development Lending: New Development Bank (NDB) has cumulatively approved around $43 billion across 135+ infrastructure and sustainable projects without imposing rigid structural adjustment conditionalities. (Source: NDB)

De-Risking from US Dollar Hegemony: Promotes bilateral local currency invoicing, exemplified by India-UAE Rupee-Dirham settlement and the pilot BRICS Pay cross-border payment messaging system.

Democratizing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): India exports open-source digital rails like UPI, Aadhaar, and DigiLocker to African and Latin American partners under the G20 DPI framework. 

Demanding UN Security Council Expansion: Unifies developing world consensus demanding permanent UNSC seats for India, Brazil, and African representatives under the Ezulwini Consensus.

Championing Global Food & Health Security: Establishes the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center and coordinated agricultural grain reserves to buffer vulnerable economies against trade embargoes.

What are India’s Priorities under BRICS 2026?

Reform Multilateralism at Bretton Woods: Demands formula-based quota realignment at the IMF and World Bank to reflect emerging economies' true economic weight. 

Institutionalizing Zero Tolerance Against Terror: Operationalizes the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan to cut off digital cross-border terror funding networks and hawala channels.

Scaling Digital Public Goods for the Global South: Offers modular, open-access fintech architecture through India Stack to enable financial inclusion across African member states. 

Promoting Traditional Medicine & Bio-Innovation: Expands global research partnerships under the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine established at Jamnagar, Gujarat. 5. Fostering Climate 

Justice & Green Hydrogen Pacts: Champions the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Global Biofuels Alliance to mobilize affordable green capital.

Strengthening Resilient Supply Chains: Promotes regional manufacturing clusters to prevent single-source supply chokepoints in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and semiconductors.

What are the Major Challenges before BRICS?

Divergent Internal Geopolitical Alignments: Internal contestations persist between members pursuing non-aligned multi-alignment (India, Brazil) and those pursuing anti-Western balancing (Russia, Iran). 

Post-Disengagement Trust Deficit & Border Stabilization: While formal troop disengagement was achieved at Depsang and Demchok following the 2024 Kazan consensus, managing residual trust deficits and executing long-term boundary delimitation along the LAC remains an institutional bottleneck.

Heterogeneity of Expanded Governance Regimes: Managing consensus across eleven nations spanning democracies, absolute monarchies, and theocracies creates severe procedural inertia. 

Western Apprehensions & Counter-Pressures: G7 nations perceive the expanded BRICS as a revisionist threat, increasing scrutiny on secondary sanctions against trade partners. 

Operational Bottlenecks in Common Currency Creation: Vast macroeconomic disparities, capital controls, and fiscal deficits make launching a unified 'BRICS Currency' impractical.

Way Forward for BRICS 

Focus on Practical Interoperability Over Single Currency: Interlink national digital payment switches like India’s UPI with member central bank payment systems rather than forcing a common currency. 

 

Expand Local Currency Project Loans via NDB: Progress from the current NDB General Strategy (2022-2026) target of 30% local currency denomination toward an expanded 50% horizon to firmly protect emerging economies from Western interest rate tightening cycles.

 

Establish a Formal Secretariat and Charter: Transition from an informal annual consultative summit into a rules-governed international organization with permanent secretarial wings. 

 

Institutionalize Regular Bilateral De-Escalation: Utilize BRICS sidelines to facilitate peaceful diplomatic dialogue and disengagement on unresolved border issues between members.

 

Operationalize the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform: Deploy climate-resilient millet seed banks and desert drip technology developed by ICAR across drought-prone African members.

 

Learn from Successful Model

  • ASEAN Consensus-Based Integration Model: Maintained non-aligned regional neutrality and economic integration across divergent political regimes via the 'ASEAN Way'

  • Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation: Deployed a $240-billion currency swap safety net among East Asian central banks to manage liquidity crises without Western IMF diktats. 

 

Conclusion

India’s 2026 BRICS Chairship presents a historic opportunity to steer the expanded eleven-member bloc into a constructive, non-confrontational pillar of global economic resilience and multipolar peace.

 

 

 

 

Source: THEHINDU

 

 

 

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Critically evaluate how the expanded BRICS+ grouping can serve as an engine of global economic growth and democratic multilateral governance.  (10 Marks, 150 Words)