Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping likely to be in New Delhi for BRICS summit in September

The 18th BRICS Summit is confirmed for September 12–13, 2026 in New Delhi, with India holding the BRICS Presidency for the year. The leaders of major BRICS m...

What Happened

The 18th BRICS Summit is confirmed for September 12–13, 2026 in New Delhi, with India holding the BRICS Presidency for the year.
The leaders of major BRICS members, including Russia and China, are expected to attend in person, making it one of the largest heads-of-state gatherings on Indian soil in recent years.
India's BRICS Presidency theme is "BRICS: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", with a "Humanity First" approach continuing from the previous presidency.
Key summit deliverables are expected to include the launch architecture for BRICS Pay, an interoperable cross-border payment system designed as an alternative to SWIFT, with India's RBI leading technical coordination.
The summit will be India's fourth BRICS chairship, having previously chaired in 2012, 2016, and 2021.

Static Topic Bridges

BRICS — Origin, Expansion, and Current Membership

BRICS originated as an acronym coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to group Brazil, Russia, India, and China as fast-growing economies. The first formal BRICS Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia in 2009. South Africa joined in 2011, making it BRICS. In a landmark expansion at the Johannesburg Summit (August 2023), Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were invited to join; they formally became members in January 2024. Indonesia joined as the 10th full member on 6 January 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation in the bloc. In 2025, ten countries — Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam — joined as BRICS Partner Countries (a new associate category below full membership).

Full members (11): Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia.
Partner countries (10, from 2025): Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Combined BRICS GDP represents over 35% of global GDP (PPP); the bloc includes over 45% of the world's population.
India has chaired BRICS in 2012, 2016, 2021, and 2026.

Connection to this news: The expansion of BRICS to 11 full members and 10 partner countries gives the New Delhi Summit a far greater geopolitical weight than any previous BRICS gathering on Indian soil, and tests India's ability to chair a more diverse and politically complex grouping.

BRICS Pay and De-dollarisation

BRICS Pay is a proposed interoperable payment messaging and settlement platform designed to enable cross-border transactions in member-state local currencies without routing through SWIFT or requiring US dollar intermediation. India's RBI has proposed an interoperable digital currency network linking national CBDCs (India's e-Rupee, China's e-CNY, Russia's digital ruble, Brazil's Drex) to facilitate trade and tourism payments. The initiative does not propose a single BRICS reserve currency but instead links existing national payment rails. The 2026 New Delhi Summit is the target date for announcing the operational framework.

SWIFT handles approximately 42 million messages per day globally; US dollar is involved in roughly 88% of global forex transactions (BIS 2022 Triennial Survey).
BRICS Pay would integrate national systems such as India's UPI, China's WeChat Pay/Alipay infrastructure, and Russia's SPFS.
RBI's proposal is for a CBDC-based interoperable network, not a fixed-exchange-rate currency union.
De-dollarisation is a stated but incremental BRICS ambition; no BRICS member has formally committed to a single currency.

Connection to this news: With India chairing the summit, the BRICS Pay framework — if endorsed at New Delhi — would be a landmark outcome of India's presidency and a significant development in the global monetary system, directly relevant to GS Paper 3 (Indian Economy) and GS Paper 2 (International Relations).

India's BRICS Presidency — Three Pillars Framework

BRICS Summits are structured around three pillars: (1) Political and Security Cooperation, (2) Economic and Financial Cooperation, and (3) People-to-People Exchanges (sometimes called the "BRICS Plus" outreach). Under India's presidency, the agenda encompasses terrorism, climate change, food and energy security, international financial architecture reform, trade, and WTO-related issues. India has consistently used BRICS to push for reform of the UN Security Council and Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank).

India's presidency theme emphasises multilateralism and multipolarity — consistent with India's "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family) framing from the G20 New Delhi Declaration (2023).
The September summit will include a BRICS Plus session inviting non-member developing countries.
BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, has a subscribed capital of $100 billion and has approved over $30 billion in loans since 2016.

Connection to this news: India's use of the BRICS chairship to host major world leaders simultaneously signals its strategic hedging — engaging the Global South and Russia/China through BRICS while also engaging the West through Quad and bilateral partnerships.

Key Facts & Data

Summit dates: September 12–13, 2026, New Delhi.
India's BRICS presidency theme: "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability."
India's BRICS chairships: 2012, 2016, 2021, 2026.
Full BRICS members: 11 (original five + Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE joined January 2024; Indonesia joined January 2025).
BRICS Partner Countries (2025): 10 nations including Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nigeria.
BRICS New Development Bank: $100 billion subscribed capital; HQ in Shanghai; open to non-BRICS members.
BRICS Pay target: Operational framework announcement at September 2026 New Delhi Summit.
First BRICS Summit: Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2009.
2023 expansion summit: Johannesburg, South Africa (15th Summit).
Indonesia: First Southeast Asian nation to join BRICS as full member (January 2025).