As BRICS expands across continents and competing interests, India faces a defining diplomatic test: transforming diversity into cooperation while preventing geopolitical polarisation. New Delhi’s success could determine whether strategic autonomy evolves from national doctrine into a credible model for multipolarity.
DR. VAISHALI RAGHUVANSHI, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL STUDIES | BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY | FOR THE NEWS ANALYTICS HERALD
3 mins read.
When India hosts the BRICS Summit in New Delhi in September 2026, it will test more than the grouping’s future. It will also test India’s evolving position in the international order. BRICS expansion has increased its geopolitical weight while bringing together countries with divergent strategic priorities, economic interests and Western relationships.
India’s challenge is to transform this diversity into practical cooperation without allowing BRICS to become paralysed by differences or defined by anti-Western geopolitics.
New Delhi increasingly presents itself as an emerging major power, Global South partner and diplomatic bridge between competing geopolitical camps. Its 2023 G20 presidency reinforced this image. BRICS 2026 offers another opportunity under more complex circumstances.
A DIFFERENT BRICS
India maintains strategic partnerships with the United States and Europe, participates in the QUAD, retains longstanding ties with Russia and engages China through BRICS.
This diplomatic flexibility reflects its ambition to remain an independent pole rather than align exclusively with any geopolitical camp. Strategic autonomy has become central to India’s international identity.
BRICS offers an opportunity to convert that positioning into leadership through institutional reform, climate finance, digital governance and development cooperation. Yet international stature ultimately depends on tangible outcomes.
India’s BRICS challenge is not choosing between rival camps, but demonstrating that strategic autonomy can produce credible multilateral leadership and outcomes.
GLOBAL SOUTH PARTNER
India’s claim to Global South leadership must recognise the diversity of developing countries, whose political systems, economic priorities and security interests differ considerably.
Rather than claiming leadership, India can position itself as a credible partner, convener and agenda-builder.
Its developmental experience strengthens this proposition. India faces challenges common to emerging economies while possessing growing technological capabilities and international influence.
Digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion and capacity-building provide practical opportunities for cooperation through BRICS.
THE AI MOMENT
Artificial intelligence is becoming a defining dimension of global power. Countries controlling computing capacity, advanced models, capital and skilled workforces will enjoy significant advantages, potentially widening inequalities between developed and developing economies.
India can position AI for development as a defining BRICS priority.
Affordable applications in agriculture, healthcare, education, disaster management, language technologies and public administration could help bridge the emerging AI divide.
BRICS could also amplify developing-country perspectives on responsible AI, cybersecurity, data governance and technological inclusion.
Rather than creating an exclusive technological bloc, India can champion technological democratisation.
India can turn AI into a Global South proposition by advancing technological access, inclusion and development rather than another exclusive bloc.
FINANCIAL REFORM
Reforming global economic governance remains central to BRICS. Institutions such as the IMF and World Bank continue facing demands for greater developing-country representation.
India should advocate reform without rupture: strengthening representation within existing institutions while supporting complementary mechanisms such as the New Development Bank.
This would advance economic multipolarity without defining BRICS primarily through opposition to Western-led structures.
CONNECTIVITY WITHOUT DEPENDENCY
An expanded BRICS creates opportunities for transport corridors, digital infrastructure, energy connectivity and supply-chain cooperation across continents.
However, infrastructure financing raises concerns about debt sustainability, sovereignty and strategic dependence.
India can promote connectivity without dependency through transparent financing, sustainable infrastructure and respect for national priorities.
This approach offers developing countries greater choice without transforming BRICS into a direct contest with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
THE CHINA CHALLENGE
China remains India’s most consequential challenge within BRICS. Beijing’s economic dominance gives it considerable influence, while unresolved bilateral differences complicate cooperation.
India must strengthen BRICS without allowing Chinese preferences to dominate its agenda. Constant confrontation would undermine the grouping; unquestioned accommodation would weaken India’s strategic autonomy.
Functional compartmentalisation offers a practical alternative: cooperate where interests converge, compete where necessary and prevent bilateral disputes from overwhelming multilateral priorities.
India’s relationships with Russia, Western powers and China reinforce its potential role as a diplomatic bridge.
Managing China without paralysing BRICS will test whether India can convert strategic autonomy from diplomatic positioning into effective geopolitical leadership.
AUTONOMY GOES GLOBAL
Strategic autonomy is no longer exclusively an Indian foreign-policy doctrine.
Countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East increasingly seek diversified partnerships rather than binary geopolitical choices.
India can use BRICS to advance strategic autonomy as a broader principle of international engagement.
This does not require neutrality or equidistance. It means preserving freedom to make issue-specific decisions without permanent bloc commitments.
Such an approach could strengthen India’s image as an advocate of greater strategic agency for developing countries.
INDIA’S REAL TEST
India’s BRICS presidency must prioritise deliverable outcomes over declarations.
Development finance, AI access, digital infrastructure, resilient connectivity, climate cooperation and multilateral reform offer practical areas for progress.
India’s G20 presidency demonstrated its capacity to advance Global South concerns. BRICS presents the harder challenge of managing geopolitical diversity.
A larger BRICS offers greater influence but demands diplomatic discipline.
India should pursue reform without rupture, connectivity without dependency, technology without exclusion and strategic autonomy without isolation.
Success would strengthen New Delhi’s distinctive international position—not as a country choosing between East and West, but as a bridge across an increasingly fragmented global order.
(Dr. Vaishali Raghuvanshi, Assistant Professor, International Studies, at Banaras Hindu University. She has research interests in World Politics, South Asian Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies and Border Studies. The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The News Analytics Herald.)
