BRICS: Why India’s Bet on Practical Ties Matters

Source: Hindustan Times | Original Published At: 2026-09-23 11:05:45 UTC

Key Points

• BRICS has expanded to 11 members with diverse political, economic and strategic interests, making common political positions harder to achieve.
• India’s BRICS presidency focused on practical cooperation in MSMEs, startups, agriculture, food security, logistics, energy, digital technology and innovation.
• More than 350 meetings and high-level engagements across over 30 cities brought governments, businesses, researchers and institutions into BRICS cooperation.
• MSME initiatives such as the Jaipur Consensus addressed credit assessment and invoice discounting to reduce financing and market-access barriers.
• BRICS trade ministers noted that the global trade-finance gap in the MSME sector is about $2.5 trillion.
• Agricultural cooperation included digital agriculture, agro-ecology, agricultural information and the proposed BRICS AGRIN network.
• The proposed BRICS Grain Exchange aims to improve agricultural trade and food-supply resilience, while the economic agenda included a Global Value Chains Action Plan for 2026–30.