India Takes Centre Stage: 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi Signals a New High for Indian Diplomacy

New Delhi: India is hosting the two-day 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12–13, bringing together leaders of an 11-nation bloc that now accounts for roughly half the world's population, about 40 percent of global GDP and over a quarter of world trade. 

This is India's fourth turn at the BRICS chair, after 2012, 2016 and 2021, and it arrives at a moment thick with global uncertainty -- wars in Ukraine and West Asia, trade tensions, and mounting anxiety over energy and supply-chain security.

A Moment of Glory for Indian Diplomacy

Hosting BRICS at this scale is more than ceremonial for New Delhi. Under its chairship theme, "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," India has run more than 350 meetings and high-level engagements across over 25 Indian cities in the run-up to the summit -- a sustained diplomatic effort aimed at shaping the bloc's agenda rather than simply presiding over it. 

The guest list speaks volumes about the scale of the moment: alongside BRICS members China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia and the UAE, New Delhi has drawn in leaders and senior officials from Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Belarus, Cuba, Uganda, Uruguay and Nigeria, along with the heads of the UN, WHO, WTO and the New Development Bank. 

For India, successfully managing a gathering this diverse -- bridging countries with sharply different geopolitical alignments -- is itself a demonstration of diplomatic weight and its ambition to speak for the Global South on reform of global institutions, trade and technology governance.

Xi and Putin in Delhi: The Bigger Story

The presence of both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn the sharpest attention. Xi's trip is his first visit to India in seven years, and it sets up his first face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Indian soil since the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clash that strained relations between the two countries for years. 

The two leaders were scheduled to hold bilateral talks on September 12, building on recent, gradual steps toward stabilising ties -- including new patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control, the resumption of direct flights, and eased business-visa rules. Putin, for his part, arrived a day earlier and met PM Modi on September 11 for talks spanning political, economic, defence and energy cooperation, in a visit shadowed by the ongoing war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow. 

PM Modi also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with discussions focused on West Asian tensions and the safety of maritime trade routes vital to India's energy security. PM Modi's Saturday schedule alone includes talks with leaders of Ethiopia, Malaysia, the UAE and Vietnam before his meeting with Xi -- a packed itinerary that shows India using the summit to engage simultaneously with powers that often sit on opposing sides of global fault lines.

What the Summit Is Expected to Deliver?

The gathering is set to conclude with the New Delhi Declaration, though BRICS's consensus-based structure means the text has reportedly required careful negotiation -- foreign ministers meeting in May were unable to agree on a joint communique over the West Asia conflict, settling instead for a chair's statement. 

Going into the leaders' summit, the more tangible, business-facing outcomes expected include progress on the BRICS Global Value Chains Action Plan for 2026–2030, continued push for greater use of national currencies and more interoperable cross-border payment systems in intra-BRICS trade, and cooperation frameworks spanning digital technology, agriculture, health, energy and climate action. 

Notably, India has steered the bloc away from more symbolic ambitions such as a common BRICS currency, favouring pragmatic mechanisms that businesses can actually use. Other deliverables on the table include youth cooperation and digital-skilling frameworks for women, academic exchange programmes, and continued work on reforming multilateral institutions such as the UN Security Council.

Why It Matters for India and the World?

For India, a well-run summit that produces workable outcomes -- rather than just another declaration -- positions its self-image as a bridge power capable of engaging Washington, Moscow and Beijing at once, while championing the interests of developing nations. Stabilising the relationship with China carries direct economic and security dividends, easing border tensions and potentially unlocking trade and investment.

Sustaining the partnership with Russia keeps energy and defence ties intact even as Delhi balances its Western partnerships. For the wider BRICS bloc, tangible progress on payment systems, supply chains and trade could offer emerging economies more resilience against global shocks, while a unified -- if carefully hedged -- position on reforming global governance adds weight to long-standing Global South demands for a greater say in institutions like the UN and the IMF. 

Whether the summit's promises translate into implementation, however, will be the real test of India's chairship in the months ahead.

ALSO READ: 'Ready To Manage Differences': China's Message As Xi Jinping Leaves Beijing for Delhi to Attend 18th BRICS Summit