Assessing BRICS Ahead of the 2026 Summit

Countries

Cooperation areas

Source: The Financial Express | Original Published At: 2026-09-10 14:14:01 UTC

The 18th BRICS Summit is scheduled for 12–13 September 2026 in New Delhi under India's chairship, with the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability.'
BRICS currently comprises 11 full members and 10 associate members, while India has proposed outreach guests including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, the Philippines, and Uruguay.
India may promote a cross-border payment framework linking national systems for local-currency settlement, including India's e-Rupee with China's digital yuan, Brazil's DREX, and the UAE's CBDC.
BRICS-11's combined GDP is roughly comparable to the United States and larger than the European Union, but intra-BRICS trade remains about 5 percent of global trade, indicating a loose trading network rather than an integrated bloc.
There is no consensus on a common BRICS currency; a more plausible path is bilateral settlement systems and CBDC interoperability that reduce dependence on the dollar.
India can use BRICS as a platform for global governance reform, resilient supply chains, digital trade, AI cooperation, and energy security, even as China dominates the bloc by economic size.