India’s BRICS Challenge Is to Prevent China from Defining the Global South

The 18^th BRICS Summit, to be hosted by India in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026, comes amid growing polarization between the Global North and South, as well as between the East and West. The war in the Middle East continues, the war in Europe remains unresolved, and countries across the Global South face mounting economic challenges, including debt distress and default risk. At the same time, China is expanding its economic and strategic footprint across the developing world through infrastructure investment, debt financing, and various global initiatives, creating dependencies and gradually shaping the strategic environment in its favor.

Against this backdrop, India’s choice of the BRICS theme—“Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”—reflects New Delhi’s focus on cooperation, sustainable development, and long-term resilience, moving the bloc’s agenda beyond abstract geopolitics towards concrete operational frameworks. At a time when China’s debt diplomacy has raised international concerns about long-term strategic dependencies, India’s emphasis on sustainable, transparent and responsible development offers an approach that seeks development without strings attached.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has described BRICS as a platform for “dialogue and cooperation, and practical responses,” with India seeking to address shared challenges “in a balanced and inclusive manner.” This reflects New Delhi’s broader approach: Rather than view BRICS primarily through a geopolitical lens, India seeks to use it as a platform for practical cooperation, while addressing the developmental challenges confronting the Global South.

For years, the United States has largely viewed BRICS through the prism of China and Russia. Yet India has remained a moderating force within the grouping, preventing it from becoming an anti-Western platform. Absent India, there is little doubt Russia, Iran, and China would transform BRICS into an anti-West coalition.

India does not intend to see de-dollarization as a BRICS objective, fearing a BRICS-led push to weaken the dollar without a credible alternative could disproportionately strengthen China, particularly through greater internationalization of the Chinese yuan. India now seeks to act as a bridge between competing geopolitical camps. This is also consistent with India’s broader ambition to emerge as a leading voice of the Global South.

The notion of internal BRICS unity is an illusion. India and China are competitors. Iran and the United Arab Emirates have competing regional interests. The members also have different political systems, economic priorities, and strategic alliances. Their positions on major international crises frequently diverge.

This fragmentation makes India’s BRICS chairmanship challenging. Building consensus on a joint declaration will be challenging, even more if that statement is to have substance.

India must try to steer BRICS towards a constructive agenda. The grouping should focus on practical cooperation in areas such as development, financing, trade, technology, energy and food security, and on addressing the wider challenges confronting the Global South, rather than allowing itself to become another arena for great power competition.

As the world’s largest democracy and an increasingly important strategic partner of the United States and other Western countries, India has little interest in allowing BRICS to become an explicitly anti-West coalition. At the same time, India cannot afford to abandon the Global South or leave the space open for China to define its agenda. Moreover, as a developing economy, India’s continued rise depends on access to Western capital, technology, markets and investment. Its long-term interests, therefore, lie in maintaining strong ties with the West while strengthening its leadership role in the Global South.