BRICS Summit — How India benifitted — Hindu editorial dated September 12

The world is gripped by multiple armed conflicts presently. Some of the BRICS countries are directly or indirectly embroiled in such wars, mainly in the Middle East and Ukraine. Fortunately, other members are far away from the battlefront. In such a situation, preparing a joint statement that needs each and every member’s consent is a daunting challenge. Happily, India’s diplomats have succeeded in having such a unanimously agreed statement drafted and released for the global media. Obviously, India, as the host, deserves accolades for doing this very difficult task. After the 2023 G-20 summit, this BRICS gathering was the second such event in Delhi.

In 2012, 2016, and in 2021, India had hosted a much bigger congregation of emerging economies. This time though India as the President of BRICS, had to host much lesser number of countries. BRICS had only foufr major powers as its members to start with in 2019. South Africa joined a year later, in 2010. Now, the number has swelled to 11. In some ways, having a smaller number of participants made the task of reaching a consensus a bt easier.

BRICS added new members in 2024. The new entrants are Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Ethiopia. Indonesia made its way in in 2025. The BTICS, is now a much larger assemblage than 2006 when it was first formed. However, it has a few members who are at daggers drawn with one another politically and militarily. They are ocked in combat in Middle East. This makes a BRICS congregation hard to unanimously agree on any issue even remotely centred around their ongoing battlefield oprations.

For example, Iran has in recent months been bludgeoned ruthlessly by the U.S.-Israel army and airforces. To counter such a savage onslaught, Iran has pounded U.S. military bases in the UAE and nearby Gulf countries that houses U.S. military bases. Iran’s success in such counter attacks through use of its drones and missiles have both hurt and humiliated UAE and its big brother, the U.S.. America’s ability to prove comprehensive security cover to its Gulf alies has been called into question. Thus, a very strong feeling of anger and animosity fills the air over among some BRICS members from the Midde East.

India under Modi’s leadership has cultivatated its military ties with the Israel in recent years. Such a policy has irritated the whole group of Arab nations and Iran, the historic foe of Israel. In such a situation of ongoing military conflicts between Iran and the U.S.-Israel forces, India’s friendly attitude towards towards Israel is being seen in bad light by all the member states from the Middle East including Iran.  In such a scenario, it becomes quite challenging on the part of host India to make members locked very visible military operations to agree on a common narrative on world affairs.

To make matters worse, President Trump has reacted very angrily to Russia-led discussions to replace the U.S. dollar with a BRICS currency. Trump has declared in no unertain terms to treat any initiative to undermine the U.S. dollar as a very hostile action. Trump suspects that India plays a behind- the—scene role to adopt an alternative global currency to limit the dollar’s dominance. Quite understandably, the U..S. embassy in Delhi must have been keeping a close eye on every word spoken by any BRICS country including India in the matter of limkiting dollzar’s global status. Arguably, India will not venture to take in Trump on this issue whereas countries like China, Russia and even Brazil would like to limit the dollar’s role and flozat a competing a BRICS currency.

For India, doing anything to annoy Trump is considered fraught. Further deterioration of bilateral ties would hamper the progress of trade talks between the two countries. India, as the host of BRICS, had to do everything possible to dispel Trump’s suspicions. The plight of India working as the host is, therefore, not hard to imagine.

When the atmosphere at the BRICS is riddled with insurmountable differences, making the members agree to a common document posed a huge challenge for the Indian diplomats conducting the proceedings of the summit’s from behind the scenes.

BRICSwss born two decades ago. Since then, the influence of the group has grown both horizontally and vertically. With its burgeoning global influence, BRICS now has a stature that’s hard to ignore for any country including the U.S. The fact that trade between the BRICS member countries has surged visibly in recent years has further bolstered the bonding between BRICS members.

BRICS countries have half of the mankind within  its borders. it now accounts for two fifths of the world economy, and one fourth of the global trade. Understandably. BTICS now enjoys considerable global clout. In the field of energy, under its umbrella, BRICS has the world’s largest energy buyers and sellers. With such impressive statistics, BRICS stands tall before the G7 group that is pro-western in its ideology and action.

As a founder member of the BRICS, India’s international standing also gets a visible boost. Bharat Mandapan the spot where three of world’s top leaders—- Xi JinPing, Vladimir Putin, and a Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshikian confabulated on Saturday to draw up a strategy to counter the threats looming over the world. Normally, it’s almost impossible to have the trio sit face-to-face to discuss global issues. The BRICS summit made it possible. Thus, India achieved a huge success.