Explained | When and where is BRICS Summit 2026? Its importance? Why it matters even more for India?

India will host the 18th BRICS Summit on 12–13 September 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The Summit brings together leaders of BRICS Member and Partner Countries as well as Outreach Invitees.

India is the BRICS Chair for the 2026 edition. The BRICS Chairship is guided by the theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” The theme reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of ‘Humanity First,’ according to a 27 August statement by Ministry of External Affairs.

At the two-day summit later this month, the leaders will also exchange views on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on common priorities and share perspectives on global and regional matters of mutual importance.

Under India’s Chairmanship this year, over 350 meetings and high-level engagements have already been held in over 25 cities across India to further strengthen the BRICS strategic partnership across three fundamental pillars – political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

“Through these engagements, and business-to-business and people-to-people initiatives, India's BRICS Chairship has contributed to advancing BRICS cooperation through practical and development-oriented outcomes,” the MEA statement read.

What is BRICS?

BRICS brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. It serves as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global as well as regional significance.

India is a founding member of BRICS, and has previously held its Chairship three times in 2012, 2016 and 2021. India assumed its fourth BRICS Chairship on 1 January 2026. The year 2026 also marks a significant milestone as BRICS completes twenty years since its establishment.

A BRICS overview published by Brazil's central bank puts the expanded grouping at about 49% of the world's population, 39% of global GDP and 23% of international trade.

Why does BRICS matter?

BRICS is not a formal organization, but a loose bloc of non-Western economies that coordinate economic and diplomatic efforts around a shared goal, according to Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent think tank.

BRICS countries seek to build an alternative to what they see as the dominance of the Western viewpoint in major multilateral groupings, such as the World Bank, the Group of Seven (G7), and the UN Security Council, CFR says.

The formal BRICS expansion became effective on January 1, 2024, welcoming Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates as new member states

The 2024 expansion came with a range of geopolitical implications representing growing economic and demographic heft: the eleven BRICS countries now comprise more than a quarter of the global economy and almost half of the world’s population, according to CFR.

“The group is poised to exert influence over the wars in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, the shape of the global economic system, the competition between China and the West, and efforts to transition to clean energy,” writes Zongyuan Zoe Liu, CFR Expert and Maurice R Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies

Growing membership also brings new challenges, however, including increasing pushback from Western counties and divisions within the bloc. Experts say that how BRICS members navigate those tensions will determine whether the group can become a more unified voice on the global stage.

History of BRICS

Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill coined the term BRIC in 2001 to identify Brazil, Russia, India, and China as fast-growing economies with the potential to become global economic powers by 2050.

BRIC was formalised at the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in 2006. The inaugural BRIC Summit was convened in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC to BRICS by including South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE became full member of BRICS from January 2024 and Indonesia in January 2025.

Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam joined BRICS as Partner Countries in 2025.

How has BRICS evolved over the years?

From being largely an economic grouping of emerging economies, BRICS has over the years evolved into something much bigger: a platform through which countries of the Global South seek greater influence over the global economic and political order.

For India, BRICS brings it to the same table as China and Russia while also connecting it with major economies and energy producers across the developing world. The bloc provides an important platform for INDIA to position itself as a voice for developing and emerging economies, a major central foreign-policy objective

The grouping has consistently pushed for reforms to institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, arguing that their governance structures do not adequately reflect the economic weight of emerging economies.

The 2025 BRICS declaration also emphasised a more representative and inclusive international order and reform of the multilateral system.

What PM Modi said in last BRICS summit

The 17th annual BRICS Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 6–7, 2025, under the chairship of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

At the Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for urgent reforms toglobal“governance institutions”, underlining the need to give developing countries a stronger voice in international decision-making.

PM Modi said institutions such as the UN Security Council, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and World Trade Organization (WTO) must be overhauled to reflect 21st-century realities.

"Highlighting that the global organizations of the 20th century lacked the capacity to deal with the challenges of the 21st century, he (Modi) underscored the need for reforming them," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

The most important geopolitical advantage of BRICS is that India can engage simultaneously with countries that often have competing interests.

BRICS allows India to engage with China and Russia without abandoning its partnerships with the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and other countries.

The expected participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the September 2026 BRICS summit in India is particularly significant, as it could provide another high-level channel for managing the complex India-China relationship.

During India's 2026 BRICS chairship, New Delhi has pushed for greater and more balanced trade among members, stronger trade in services, resilient global value chains and easier access to finance for small businesses.

At the BRICS Trade Ministers' meeting in Jaipur, members endorsed principles aimed at strengthening MSME access to global markets and narrowing the trade-finance gap. India also pushed for more resilient and diversified global value chains.

This matters because India's economic interests are increasingly tied to markets outside the traditional Western economies.

BRICS Currency?

One of the most closely watched BRICS discussions concerns cross-border payments. The idea is not necessarily to create a single BRICS currency. However, experts said that an immediate objective is to make trade between member countries easier through local currencies, digital payment systems, and potentially interconnected central bank digital currencies.

In August 2026, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that BRICS countries were discussing the possibility of linking fast-payment systems and CBDCs to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of cross-border transactions. India has also been pushing for greater international use of the rupee.

For India, such mechanisms could reduce dependence on traditional payment channels and make cross-border trade more efficient. But this is likely to be a gradual process rather than a sudden replacement of the dollar.

The US-Iran War Angle

The US-Iran war has exposed the central contradiction within BRICS, according to analysts. While the grouping seeks to challenge a Western-dominated global order, its members have different interests when an actual geopolitical crisis erupts.

For India, which holds the BRICS chair in 2026, the opportunity is to demonstrate whether its much-discussed strategic autonomy can translate into leadership, analysts believe. This is also a diplomatic challenge, they said.

Iran has sought to use BRICS to rally opposition to US military action, urging India as chair to help build a common position.

On 31 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the US-Iran war broke out, impacting the Middle East and beyond, following US and Israeli attacks on Tehran earlier this year.

Pezeshkian urged Modi to use India's extensive contacts with various parties to help them move away from the path of war and bloodshed and return to the path of dialogue and agreement.

The Iranian president emphasised that the desire and will of the "wise and responsible" actors in the region and the world is for peace, security, tranquility and the avoidance of war.

"We believe that the solution to the issues we face lies in dialogue and cooperation, and that all available capacities must be mobilised to prevent the spread of insecurity and conflict," he said, according to an Iranian readout.

India's balancing Act

For India, the challenge would be to strike a balancing act because the expanded BRICS includes both Iran and the UAE, which have opposing interests in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. At the same time. New Delhi also has important strategic and economic relationships with Washington and Gulf countries.

That makes India's BRICS chairmanship even more important.

The stakes are not merely diplomatic. The US-Iran war has affected energy security, shipping and global oil markets, with the Strait of Hormuz becoming a major vulnerability. Reuters reported on 31 August that analysts expected oil prices to remain above $80 per barrel in 2026 due to ongoing supply disruptions linked to the US-Iran conflict.

For India, this is particularly significant because West Asia is central to its energy security, trade and diaspora interests. Any prolonged disruption in the region can raise India's import bill, put pressure on inflation and complicate economic growth.

(With inputs from agencies)