BRICS Summit in New Delhi: Has the Group Really Overtaken the G7?

Source: Berliner Zeitung | Original Published At: 2026-09-11 14:57:34 UTC

Key Points

• The 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi convenes eleven heads of state under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability".
• By purchasing-power parity, BRICS accounts for about 40 percent of the world economy, compared with roughly 28 percent for the G7, while the group represents about 49.5 percent of the global population.
• In nominal GDP terms, the G7 still leads, and intra-BRICS trade remains limited, amounting to about 5 percent of world trade despite strong growth since 2003.
• China is central to BRICS trade, with much intra-group commerce embedded in Chinese-led global supply chains rather than deep institutional integration among members.
• Monetary cooperation remains modest: there is no common BRICS currency, and the New Development Bank remains small compared with the World Bank and IMF, although 43.5 percent of its new financing in 2024 was denominated in member currencies.
• Political divisions weaken cohesion, including India-China rivalry, Iran-Gulf security differences, disputes over UN Security Council reform, and ambiguity over Saudi Arabia's membership status.
• The article concludes that the summit may consolidate BRICS' role in making the existing international order less exclusively Western rather than replacing that order.