What Happened
- Brazil formally transferred the BRICS presidency to India on December 12, 2025, at the 4th BRICS Sherpas Meeting, when Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio (Brazil) handed the gavel to India's Sherpa Ambassador Sudhakar Dalela.
- India assumed the chairmanship on January 1, 2026 — marking the first time India leads the expanded BRICS format, now comprising 10 full members.
- India has announced four organizing pillars for its presidency: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability, framed under a "Humanity First" approach focused on human welfare, equity, and inclusive growth.
- Brazil's presidency, marked by global tensions — ongoing wars, US tariff escalations, and geopolitical fragmentation — had steered the bloc toward sustainability and inclusive development; India's term is expected to build on this foundation.
- Key flagship initiatives under India's presidency include promoting Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a scalable Global South model, expanding the New Development Bank (NDB), and advancing national currency settlement systems to reduce dependence on the US dollar in intra-bloc trade.
Static Topic Bridges
BRICS: Evolution from G5 to a 10-Member Bloc
BRICS began as "BRIC" — a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, and China — coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to identify fast-growing emerging economies. South Africa joined in 2010, making it BRICS. At the Johannesburg Summit in 2023, six new members were invited: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Argentina (Argentina later declined). By 2024, the bloc expanded to 10 members, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia formally joining.
- First formal BRICS summit: Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2009
- BRICS collectively represents ~40% of world population and ~25% of global GDP
- Rotating presidency: each member holds chairmanship for a calendar year
- India previously held the BRICS chair in 2021 (theme: "BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus")
- 10-member composition (2024–): Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia
Connection to this news: India's 2026 chairmanship is its first under the expanded 10-member format, adding diplomatic complexity but also greater weight in representing the Global South.
New Development Bank (NDB): BRICS's Institutional Financial Arm
The New Development Bank was established in 2015 at the Ufa Summit (Russia) as a multilateral development bank to fund infrastructure and sustainable development in BRICS and other emerging economies. It was conceived as an alternative to Bretton Woods institutions (IMF and World Bank), which developing countries view as dominated by Western interests. Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB is governed on the principle of equal voting rights among founding members — unlike the IMF's weighted voting system.
- Headquarters: Shanghai, China; Regional Office: Johannesburg, South Africa
- Authorised capital: $100 billion; initial subscribed capital: $50 billion
- Membership expanded to 11 countries by 2024-25, raising $16.1 billion in 2024
- Investment pillars: logistics infrastructure, digital transformation, social infrastructure, energy transition
- President (as of 2023): Dilma Rousseff (former President of Brazil)
- Distinct from the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), also set up at Ufa
Connection to this news: India's presidency plans to expand NDB's role and streamline currency settlement — key pillars of de-dollarization discourse within BRICS.
Global Governance Reform and UNSC Restructuring
A recurring theme in BRICS declarations is the reform of multilateral institutions, particularly the UN Security Council (UNSC), the IMF, and the World Bank. India has consistently demanded a permanent seat in an expanded UNSC, reflecting the Group of Four (G4) position (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan). The argument is that the current P5 structure — reflecting the 1945 post-war order — is anachronistic and excludes the world's most populous democracy.
- UNSC has 5 permanent members (P5) with veto power: US, Russia, China, UK, France
- UNSC reform requires a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly plus ratification by all P5 — making it politically difficult
- India holds the position that any expansion must include permanent seats for developing nations, not merely elected rotating seats
- BRICS Johannesburg Declaration (2023) called for "more representative, inclusive, transparent and effective" multilateral institutions
Connection to this news: India's BRICS presidency is expected to continue pushing for UNSC reform and greater EMDC representation — positions that directly benefit India's long-standing foreign policy objectives.
India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as Global South Model
India's DPI stack — comprising Aadhaar (identity), UPI (payments), and DigiLocker (documents) — has become a reference model for emerging economies seeking affordable digital governance. Under BRICS, India aims to promote an open-architecture DPI model that other nations can adapt rather than adopt wholesale.
- UPI processes over 15 billion transactions/month; Aadhaar covers ~1.38 billion residents
- India's DPI approach recognized by G20 (under India's 2023 presidency) through the "One Future Alliance"
- World Bank and UNDP have cited India's DPI as replicable for financial inclusion in the Global South
- Distinct from China's closed, state-controlled digital systems — India's model is open-source and interoperable
Connection to this news: Promoting DPI as a BRICS public good is a major Indian diplomatic soft-power initiative, aligning national achievement with Global South leadership.
Key Facts & Data
- BRICS 10-member expansion: effective January 1, 2024 (Johannesburg Summit decision, August 2023)
- India's 2026 BRICS theme: "Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, Sustainability" (RICS)
- NDB raised $16.1 billion in 2024; now has 11 member countries
- Brazil's 2025 BRICS presidency priorities included: sustainable development, multilateral reform, AI cooperation
- India-China border disputes remain the key friction point within BRICS consensus-building
- BRICS collectively accounts for approximately 35% of global GDP (PPP) and over 3.5 billion people
- India previously chaired BRICS in 2012 and 2021