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A Multipolar Mandate: Unpacking India’s BRICS Strategy
In the complex and often turbulent theater of 21st-century geopolitics, few groupings are as intriguing or as misunderstood as BRICS. Originally conceived as an investment acronym by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001, the bloc—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—has evolved into a significant, if somewhat unwieldy, political and economic forum. For India, a founding member and a nation navigating a precarious path between rival global powers, the question of its engagement with BRICS is not just academic; it is a critical component of its grand strategy. As the world fractures into competing camps, what India wants from BRICS is a masterclass in pragmatic diplomacy: to use the platform as a crucial lever to amplify its influence, secure its economic interests, and champion its vision of a multipolar world, all while carefully managing the deep-seated contradictions that lie at the heart of the grouping.
India’s participation in BRICS is often viewed through a simplistic lens, particularly in the West, where the bloc is frequently portrayed as a monolithic anti-Western alliance. This interpretation, however, misses the nuanced and calculated approach New Delhi employs. India is simultaneously a key member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with the US, Japan, and Australia—a grouping widely seen as a counterweight to China. This dual-membership is not a contradiction to be resolved but the very essence of India’s foreign policy doctrine of “strategic autonomy.” For Indian policymakers, BRICS is not an exclusive club demanding unwavering allegiance but a valuable stage among many. It is a forum where India can co-author a narrative of the “Global South,” push for reforms in an international system it views as archaic and inequitable, and maintain vital relationships with non-Western powers like Russia, even under immense geopolitical pressure. Yet, this strategic utility is constantly tested by the bloc’s internal dynamics, most notably the looming presence of its primary strategic adversary, China.
The Core Pillars of India’s BRICS Agenda
India’s objectives within BRICS are multifaceted, reflecting its aspirations as a rising global power with a unique set of economic, political, and security concerns. These goals form the bedrock of its engagement, guiding its actions from high-level summits to technical working groups.
Championing Strategic Autonomy in a Polarized World
At the absolute core of India’s foreign policy is the principle of strategic autonomy—the ability to make decisions based on its national interests without being tethered to any single power bloc. In an era of escalating US-China rivalry, this principle has become more critical than ever. BRICS serves as a vital instrument in this balancing act. Membership provides India with a high-profile platform to engage with both China and Russia, demonstrating to the world, and particularly to its Western partners, that it retains an independent foreign policy. It prevents New Delhi from being perceived as merely a cog in a US-led security architecture.
This platform allows India to hedge its bets. While the Quad focuses on security and a free and open Indo-Pacific, BRICS provides a complementary venue to discuss economic development, institutional reform, and the concerns of developing nations. By having a foot in both camps, India maximizes its diplomatic leverage. It can engage with the West on shared democratic values and security threats while simultaneously working within BRICS to create alternative financial and governance structures. This multi-alignment approach is a sophisticated evolution of its historical non-alignment policy, adapted for a more interconnected and contested world. Through BRICS, India signals that it is open to all, beholden to none, and will chart its own course based on its own terms.
Fueling Economic Ambitions: The New Development Bank and Beyond
Economic development remains India’s most pressing domestic priority, and its foreign policy is intrinsically linked to this goal. BRICS, representing over 40% of the world’s population and a significant share of global GDP, is a potent economic force that India is keen to harness. The most tangible outcome of this economic cooperation is the New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai. India was a key architect of the NDB, viewing it as a crucial alternative to the Bretton Woods institutions—the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund—which are often seen as dominated by Western interests and imposing onerous conditionalities.
For India, the NDB is not just a source of funding for critical infrastructure and sustainable development projects; it is a symbol of a shifting global economic order. By contributing equally to the bank’s initial subscribed capital, the founding members ensured a more equitable governance structure. India has been one of the largest beneficiaries of NDB lending, securing billions for projects in renewable energy, transportation, and water management. Beyond the NDB, India uses the BRICS platform to promote trade in national currencies, reducing reliance on the US dollar and insulating its economy from the vagaries of American monetary policy and sanctions. It also seeks to foster collaboration in digital technology, an area where India has made significant strides with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and other digital public infrastructure. By sharing its “India Stack” model with other BRICS nations, New Delhi aims to set global standards and create new markets for its burgeoning tech industry.
A Voice for the Global South: Leadership and Collective Action
India has long seen itself as a natural leader of the developing world, a role it refers to as being a “Vishwaguru” (world teacher) or, more pragmatically, a “leading power.” BRICS provides the ideal platform to operationalize this ambition. The grouping is inherently a coalition of the Global South’s most significant players, giving it a collective weight that individual nations lack. When India speaks at a BRICS forum on issues like climate justice, sustainable development goals (SDGs), debt relief, or food and energy security, its voice is amplified by the collective clout of the bloc.
New Delhi strategically uses this platform to champion a narrative of equitable and inclusive globalization. It pushes back against what it perceives as the one-sided burdens placed on developing countries in climate negotiations, advocating for the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” During its G20 presidency, India successfully championed the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member, a move that found strong support within the BRICS framework. By positioning itself as a bridge between the developed and developing worlds, and by using BRICS to build consensus on key developmental issues, India enhances its own global stature and solidifies its claim as a responsible and influential stakeholder in the international system.
Reforming Global Governance: The Quest for a Seat at the High Table
A recurring theme in India’s foreign policy is the call for reform of global governance institutions, which it argues still reflect the power dynamics of the post-World War II era. The primary target of this critique is the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), where India has been campaigning for decades for a permanent seat. BRICS provides a unified front for this demand. The group’s joint declarations consistently call for a “more democratic and representative” multipolar world order and support the aspirations of Brazil, India, and South Africa to play a greater role in the UN.
While this collective call has yet to yield tangible results, due in no small part to the complexities of UN reform and the vested interests of the current permanent members (including China and Russia), it remains a powerful diplomatic tool. It allows India to demonstrate that its quest for a permanent seat is not a solitary ambition but a demand supported by a significant portion of the world’s population. This shared objective of reforming global governance is one of the strongest ideological glues holding the disparate members of BRICS together, creating a common cause that transcends their individual rivalries and differences.
Navigating the Geopolitical Minefield: India’s BRICS Challenges
For all its utility, India’s engagement with BRICS is fraught with challenges and contradictions. The path is a geopolitical minefield, requiring constant vigilance and deft diplomatic maneuvering to avoid pitfalls that could undermine its national interests.
The Dragon in the Room: The China Conundrum
The single greatest challenge for India within BRICS is China. The two nations are locked in a deep-seated strategic rivalry, marked by a persistent and often violent border dispute, competition for influence across Asia and Africa, and fundamentally different visions of the regional and global order. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Chinese leaders at BRICS summits while their soldiers face off in the Himalayas represents the central paradox of India’s position.
Beijing’s economic and military power dwarfs that of the other members, leading to fears that it will inevitably dominate the bloc’s agenda, shaping it to serve its own geopolitical ends. China often frames BRICS as a cornerstone of an anti-hegemonic (read: anti-US) front, a narrative that sits uncomfortably with India’s policy of maintaining positive relations with Washington. India constantly works to resist this push, ensuring that BRICS remains a forum focused on economic and developmental issues rather than a formal military or political alliance aimed at confronting the West. Every joint statement, every new initiative, is a battleground of negotiation where Indian diplomats work to dilute or rephrase language that could be interpreted as a wholesale alignment with Beijing’s worldview.
The Bear’s Embrace: Managing the Russia Relationship
India’s long-standing strategic partnership with Russia, a legacy of the Cold War, is another complex variable. While this relationship remains important, particularly in the defense and energy sectors, Russia’s growing dependence on China has altered the dynamic. Moscow is increasingly seen as a junior partner to Beijing, a shift that complicates India’s efforts to balance China’s influence within BRICS. India had historically relied on Russia to act as a moderating force, but this leverage has diminished.
Furthermore, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put India in a difficult diplomatic position. While New Delhi has refrained from outright condemnation of Moscow, citing its historical ties and strategic interests, it has also called for respect for territorial integrity and a peaceful resolution. BRICS has become a crucial, and one of the few remaining, platforms where Indian leaders can engage directly with President Vladimir Putin without the intense scrutiny of Western capitals. It allows India to maintain this critical relationship, but it also exposes it to criticism and reinforces the perception of BRICS as a club of autocracies and their enablers.
The Expansion Dilemma: A Bigger Bloc, A Bolder China?
The recent expansion of BRICS to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (with Saudi Arabia’s entry pending) was a major point of contention and a test of Indian diplomacy. On one hand, a larger BRICS+ amplifies the bloc’s claim to represent the Global South and increases its collective economic weight. However, India was initially cautious, fearing that a rapid, China-driven expansion would dilute its own influence and onboard a host of nations with strong ties to Beijing, effectively turning the grouping into a “China-and-friends” club.
India’s strategy was to push for clear criteria and a consensus-based process for admitting new members, a partial success that allowed it to shape the outcome rather than simply oppose it. Nevertheless, the inclusion of countries like Iran, which is under heavy Western sanctions, tilts the bloc’s political character further away from the center and complicates India’s balancing act. The challenge for India going forward will be to build consensus and find common ground within a much more diverse and potentially more fragmented group, while ensuring its own voice is not lost in the crowd.
The Cacophony of Interests: Bridging Internal Divides
Beyond the major power dynamics, BRICS is a group of immense diversity. It comprises two democracies (India, Brazil), two authoritarian states (China, Russia), and a vibrant, albeit challenged, democracy in South Africa. Their economic models range from state-led capitalism to more market-oriented systems. Their geopolitical interests often diverge. Brazil and South Africa, for instance, are geographically distant from the core conflicts of Eurasia and have different threat perceptions. This internal heterogeneity makes it difficult to forge a unified and effective common policy on many critical global issues. While declarations are made and initiatives are launched, the follow-through is often weak, hampered by a lack of institutional cohesion and divergent national priorities. For India, this means that achieving its goals requires painstaking, consensus-building diplomacy, a slow and often frustrating process.
The Art of the Deal: India’s Tactical Playbook
Faced with these challenges, India has developed a sophisticated tactical playbook to maximize the benefits of its BRICS membership while mitigating the risks.
From Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment
India’s primary strategy is to treat BRICS as one of several key pillars of its foreign policy. By actively engaging in the Quad, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the G20, and various bilateral partnerships, India avoids over-reliance on any single forum. This “all-directional” engagement, or multi-alignment, ensures that it cannot be cornered. If BRICS becomes too dominated by China, India can counterbalance by strengthening its ties with the Quad. If Western pressure becomes too intense, BRICS offers a diplomatic release valve. This approach gives Indian diplomacy flexibility and resilience.
Setting the Narrative: Countering a Sinocentric Agenda
Rather than being a passive participant, India actively seeks to shape the BRICS agenda. It consistently introduces and champions initiatives that align with its strengths and priorities. These include cooperation on counter-terrorism (a pointed message to China regarding its support for Pakistan), digital public infrastructure, space exploration, traditional medicine, and start-up ecosystems. By creating and leading these new verticals of cooperation, India carves out its own space within the bloc and prevents the agenda from being monopolized by China’s grand projects like the Belt and Road Initiative. It’s a strategy of proactive agenda-setting to ensure the group’s focus remains broad and aligned with India’s interests.
Building Bridges Within the Bloc
Recognizing the asymmetry with China, India invests significant diplomatic capital in strengthening its bilateral ties with the other BRICS members—Brazil and South Africa in particular. By fostering strong relationships with these “middle powers” within the group, India can build smaller coalitions to act as a counterweight to the Sino-Russian axis. These partnerships, based on shared democratic values and common developmental challenges, create an alternative center of gravity within BRICS, ensuring that decisions are not dictated solely by the group’s most powerful members.
Conclusion: A Calculated Partnership for a New Era
For India, BRICS is not a matter of ideological alignment but of strategic utility. It is a high-stakes, high-reward platform that perfectly encapsulates the complexities of modern Indian foreign policy. It is a vehicle for pursuing a more equitable global order, a forum for securing economic opportunity, and a crucial element in its grand strategy of multi-alignment. It provides a stage to stand as a leader of the Global South, to demand reform of an unjust international system, and to engage with powers it might otherwise be at odds with.
However, the platform is riddled with challenges, chief among them the ever-present rivalry with China. India’s success within BRICS will depend on its ability to continue its delicate balancing act: to leverage the bloc’s collective weight without being subsumed by China’s influence, to champion a multipolar world without fostering an anti-Western one, and to find unity in diversity without sacrificing its core national interests. What India wants from BRICS is, ultimately, a reflection of what India wants for itself: a prominent, independent, and influential role in shaping the contours of the 21st century. It is a calculated and often difficult partnership, but in the turbulent waters of contemporary geopolitics, it is a ship that India cannot afford to abandon.
