E-Paper
India’s strategic calculus at the 18th BRICS Summit
This article is authored by Gunwant Singh, scholar, international relations and security studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Prefer HTon Google
The convening of the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi marks a consequential inflection point in modern international relations, signalling that the post-Cold War architecture is yielding to a more contested and pluralistic global order. Set against the backdrop of intensifying great-power rivalry, persistent macroeconomic volatility, and widespread dissatisfaction among developing nations, the summit in India’s capital moved well beyond routine diplomatic engagement. It served as a high-profile platform where leading emerging economies reaffirmed their intent to rebalance international decision-making and carve out institutional autonomy. By bringing together diverse power centres that represent a decisive share of humanity, geographic landmass, and economic output, the New Delhi summit underscored that the traditional locus of global authority is decisively drifting away from the Euro-Atlantic axis toward an increasingly assertive and vocal Global South.
At the core of this transition is an explicit challenge to western hegemony, which has long rested upon an intricate network of military alliances, the institutional centrality of the Bretton Woods bodies, and the indisputable dominance of the US dollar. For decades, developing nations functioned largely as norm-takers rather than norm-makers, navigating financial rules, international trade regimes, and diplomatic standards crafted primarily to serve western interests. The deliberations in New Delhi reflected a growing collective impatience with this status quo. BRICS leaders challenged the perceived weaponisation of western-led financial mechanisms, including unilateral economic sanctions, asset freezes, and exclusion from international payment networks. In doing so, the summit presented an alternative paradigm of global governance grounded in sovereign equality and genuine multipolarity, underscoring that unilateral western preferences can no longer steer global trajectories uncontested.
This challenge to prevailing orthodoxies has acquired tangible momentum through practical financial and economic initiatives. Central to the summit's discourse was the acceleration of de-dollarisation strategies, emphasising trade settlement in local currencies, the exploration of interoperable cross-border payment platforms, and the expansion of the New Development Bank as a viable counterbalance to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Unlike traditional multilateral institutions whose loans frequently come tied to stringent ideological and structural adjustment conditions, the alternative financing models promoted at the summit prioritise sovereign developmental needs and physical infrastructure. Furthermore, as the grouping attracts mounting interest from nations across Africa, Latin America, and West Asia, its demographic and resource weight spanning critical minerals, hydrocarbon reserves, and high-growth consumer markets render western attempts at economic isolation increasingly ineffective.
Beyond financial architecture, the summit challenged western normative primacy by redefining the framework of international legitimacy. For years, the transatlantic consensus operated under the presumption that it alone defined legitimate political systems, human rights standards, and legal norms. The consensus emerging from New Delhi, however, insisted upon the pluralism of civilisations and the democratisation of international organisations, prominently calling for overdue, comprehensive reform of the United Nations Security Council to include permanent representation for developing powers. The summit crystallised a widespread refusal among emerging States to be dragged into an era of renewed bloc politics or to subordinate their domestic economic priorities to western geopolitical campaigns. By articulating these positions collectively, BRICS demonstrated that western hegemony is no longer an insurmountable structural reality but an inherited paradigm confronting widespread systemic contestation.
Within this profound geopolitical reconfiguration, India occupies an indispensable and uniquely influential role. India is neither an uncritical adjunct of the West nor an anti-western revisionist power bent on destabilising international systems for ideological reasons. Instead, India practices an independent policy of strategic autonomy, enabling it to act as an essential bridge between diverging geopolitical hemispheres. At the New Delhi summit, India demonstrated that the pursuit of a multipolar world does not necessitate adopting an adversarial posture toward the West. By anchoring the summit's agenda in pragmatic economic development, poverty eradication, digital innovation, and supply chain resilience, India ensured that the forum retained broad credibility rather than descending into a purely polemical anti-western alliance.
To consolidate its leadership in this transitional era, India must translate its strategic position into sustained proactive statecraft. A foundational step is for India to champion the democratisation of technology, offering its proven Digital Public Infrastructure encompassing scalable identity systems, unified payments interfaces, and open data architectures as an affordable, non-extractive global public good for fellow emerging nations. Furthermore, India can take the lead in structuring institutional frameworks for climate justice and equitable energy transitions, articulating solutions that balance decarbonisation with developmental imperatives. By acting as the authentic and principled voice of the Global South, India can mediate differences among BRICS members, sponsor consensus-driven dispute resolution mechanisms, and present constructive proposals for the reform of global governance institutions that appeal to developing and developed nations alike.
Engaging deeply with this shifting dynamic brings notable strategic advantages for New Delhi. Foremost among these is the significant enhancement of India’s diplomatic bargaining leverage. Membership and leadership within an energised BRICS enable India to prevent international regimes from being negotiated over its head, while simultaneously reminding western capitals that Indian cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and beyond cannot be taken for granted. Economically, BRICS provides India with resilient channels for critical energy supplies, fertiliser imports, and raw materials, alongside expanded export markets for Indian goods and services shielded from extraterritorial sanctions. Moreover, driving local currency trade and financial alternatives helps insulate India’s growing economy from dollar liquidity shocks and western financial volatility, reinforcing national economic resilience.
Simultaneously, India’s prominent association with BRICS introduces intricate strategic risks and negative externalities that require constant vigilance. The most immediate challenge stems from internal cohesion, specifically the widening geopolitical shadow and economic weight of China. Beijing’s ambition to weaponise the platform as an explicitly anti-western instrument threatens to pull BRICS into direct confrontation with the US and Europe, relationships that remain vital for India’s own technology transfers, foreign direct investment, and security partnerships through groupings like Quad. Compounding this challenge are India’s unresolved border confrontations and significant trade deficits with China, which inject fundamental mistrust into the heart of the grouping. If BRICS is perceived internationally as a geopolitical vehicle serving Beijing’s authoritarian ambitions, India risks diplomatic guilt by association and the erosion of its carefully cultivated goodwill in western capitals.
Ultimately, the New Delhi summit demonstrates that the transition toward a decentralised, multipolar world order is irreversible, yet its final character remains deeply contested. For India, the critical imperative is to maintain strategic equilibrium while guiding the bloc toward constructive multilateralism rather than disruptive confrontation. By rejecting narrow camp politics, defending its territorial and sovereign integrity, and focusing the Global South on tangible socioeconomic progress, India has an opportunity to shape the post-hegemonic era. Successfully steering these contradictory currents will demand immense diplomatic finesse, ensuring that as western predominance recedes, the emerging international system is defined by genuine multilateral democracy rather than the unilateral hegemony of another rival power.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Gunwant Singh, scholar, international relations and security studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
