Can India Salvage a Fractured BRICS?

Source: Deccan Chronicle | Original Published At: 2026-09-10 20:04:06 UTC

Key Points

• India is hosting the 18th BRICS summit on 12-13 September 2026 and has proposed an agenda focused on resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability.
• BRICS finance ministers met a month before the summit without issuing a joint statement, indicating intra-group differences.
• The article notes that intra-BRICS trade is about 20% of South-South trade despite BRICS members accounting for two-thirds of the Global South's GDP.
• India's agenda emphasizes digital public infrastructure, financial technology, and artificial intelligence, while China is described as leading in AI and rare-earth supply.
• The New Development Bank is described as under-capitalised with $100 billion in deposits, and China's Belt and Road Initiative is presented as a parallel infrastructure funding channel.
• The summit outcome will test India's ability to lead BRICS amid Sino-Indian border tensions and competing geopolitical narratives.