PM Modi’s opening message: India’s BRICS presidency puts economic power on a new track |Putin, China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at the BRICS Business Forum in India, highlighted the growing economic influence of the BRICS grouping. Modi said BRICS nations now represent 50% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP and more than 25% of global trade. He said that while the global economy has grown around two-and-a-half times over the years, the combined GDP of BRICS nations has expanded nearly four-and-a-half times, showing the bloc’s economic strength growing at nearly twice the pace of the rest of the world. Modi also described BRICS nations as emerging hubs for global innovation, with new possibilities ranging from grassroots initiatives to frontier technologies. He said the growing scale, speed and optimism of BRICS were clearly visible at the forum, which he described as the largest BRICS Business Forum to date.