BRICS and India's policy of strategic autonomy

This article is authored by Prabhu Dayal, former ambassador, New Delhi.

Hosting the BRICS Summit serves as a definitive litmus test and a powerful projection of India’s deeply ingrained policy of strategic autonomy. As a founding member of the BRICS bloc (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, alongside its newly expanded members), New Delhi has consistently utilised the platform to advance its geopolitical and economic interests. In an era increasingly defined by intense major-power rivalry—primarily between the US and a China-Russia axis—India’s role within BRICS highlights its unique diplomatic doctrine: cultivating robust partnerships across competing global blocs without formally aligning with any single power centre.

Gram it: As vehicles move on the road near the Rail Bhavan, it's difficult to not spot how the buildings in this part of the city are illuminating with decorative lighting and projection displays ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit 2026. The summit is scheduled to take place at Bharat Mandapam on September 12 and 13. (Photo: PTI)

Strategic autonomy is the foundational pillar of modern Indian diplomacy. Distinct from the Cold War-era doctrine of non-alignment, which often emphasised passive detachment from global power struggles, strategic autonomy is an active, issue-based approach to international relations. It allows India the flexibility to engage with multiple, often adversarial, global powers simultaneously based on its own national security and economic interests.

Through this lens, India actively participates in Quad (alongside the US, Japan, and Australia) to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific and counter Chinese assertiveness. Simultaneously, it remains a core pillar of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), platforms that are noticeably non-western and increasingly driven by anti-hegemonic rhetoric from Moscow and Beijing. Hosting a BRICS summit underscores New Delhi's conviction that it does not need to choose between the East and the West; rather, it positions India as a vital global bridge.

When India hosts the BRICS Summit, it takes centre stage in managing a complex web of geopolitical contradictions. The summit provides India with several distinct strategic advantages, while simultaneously testing its diplomatic dexterity.

• Championing the Global South: India has long positioned itself as the rightful voice of the Global South—developing nations that feel marginalised by western-dominated financial and political institutions. By driving the BRICS agenda, India can push for the reform of multilateral institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN Security Council, ensuring they reflect contemporary geopolitical realities.
• Managing the China challenge: The most delicate aspect of India’s BRICS engagement is its relationship with China. Despite protracted border tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), BRICS provides a crucial, structured multilateral venue for direct leadership-level dialogue. Hosting the summit allows India to cooperate with China on shared global economic objectives—such as local currency trade and climate finance—while drawing firm boundaries against Chinese attempts to turn the bloc into an explicitly anti-western vehicle.
• The Russia Dilemma: Following the escalation of the war in Ukraine and subsequent western sanctions, Russia has increasingly relied on BRICS to demonstrate that it is not diplomatically isolated. India's strategic autonomy has been vividly illustrated here; New Delhi has resisted western pressure to condemn Moscow, maintaining vital energy and defence ties, while using BRICS platforms to consistently advocate for diplomacy, dialogue, and the cessation of hostilities.

A major success of India's strategic autonomy within BRICS is its resistance to the bloc’s polarisation. While China and Russia frequently attempt to steer BRICS toward a rigid anti-western stance, India—often supported by Brazil and South Africa—strives to keep the group ‘non-western.’

India’s vision for BRICS focuses on economic democratisation, multipolarity, and functional cooperation in fields like digital public infrastructure, disaster resilience, and counter-terrorism. By preventing BRICS from becoming an ideological tool against the West, India preserves its deeply valuable strategic, technological, and economic partnerships with Washington and European capitals.

Ultimately, hosting the BRICS Summit is a masterclass in Indian multi-alignment. It demonstrates to the world that New Delhi possesses the diplomatic weight to anchor a premier non-western bloc while simultaneously expanding its strategic embrace of the West. By anchoring the summit, India reinforces the core tenet of strategic autonomy: that its foreign policy decisions will always be dictated by its own national interest, free from the dictates of external alliances. In a fractured global landscape, BRICS remains an indispensable arena for India to assert its status as a rising, independent pole in a multipolar world order. India proves that a rising power can champion cooperation, development, and multilateral balance while fiercely guarding its independent path.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Prabhu Dayal, former ambassador, New Delhi.