India Goes On Diplomatic Drive to Push its Agenda at the BRICS Summit 2026
Theme and Thaw
The upcoming BRICS Summit 2026 (#BRICS2026) is taking place in New Delhi, India, from 12 to 13 September 2026. For the theme, India picked ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.’
As Trump sanctions both India and China with punitive tariffs, the two countries seem to be getting back together after the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020. Back then, bilateral ties basically froze, but now a warming up is discernible.
Digital Leadership
On the Artificial Intelligence (#AI) front, India is working toward lessening the divide in the adoption of AI technology and pushing for ethical AI governance.
In addition, it is pushing #FinTech and its digital payment standards under the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). India has proposed building a repository for open-source applications that can be propagated across BRICS to promote digitalization and bridge the digital divide.
National Currencies for Cross-Border Settlements
In line with promoting the #UPI, India is promoting the use of national currencies for cross-border settlements. The integration of the Indian payment system would obviously be the preferred option for India.
This position differs from the one pushed by Russia previously, which openly advocated #dedollarization. But in practice, it amounts to the same effect as the mighty dollar is pushed out of the BRICS cross-border payment system. Under India’s chairship, the common BRICS currency no longer appears to be one of the top priority agenda items. Thus, the difference in dedollarization might be the speed and scope, as Russia would have liked to do more and move faster.
Leadership of Global South
Generally, India intends to fully leverage the BRICS Summit to reinforce its leadership position in the #GlobalSouth. Increasingly, the #BRICS is perceived as being a counterweight to the #G7.
India will also have to seek ways to integrate the new member countries into the BRICS family, by ensuring that the agenda is not hijacked by just a few big players. Generally speaking, most Global South countries are for a reform of the global institutions and would like to have more say at the Bretton Woods institutions and the United Nations.
Diplomatic Drive
In preparation for the Summit, India had dispatched high-level emissaries to key #BRICS member states. Thus, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar was in Moscow from 23 to 25 August 2026, while the National Security Advisor was in Beijing around these same dates.
Certain media outlets floated the rumor that China’s President Xi might be leading a record 400-strong delegation to the BRICS Summit, but China’s government has yet to confirm. Some analysts observe that India appears to be walking on a tightrope by carefully balancing between the East and the West.