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The monthly magazine, September 2026 · Global Affairs and International Relations › BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

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India hosts BRICS: the New Delhi Declaration

LeadPrelims and MainsSeptember 2026

Why in news

India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 12 and 13 September 2026. The leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration by consensus on 12 September, with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian present.

Background

BRICS began as Brazil, Russia, India and China; South Africa joined in 2010. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined in 2024, Indonesia in 2025: eleven members.
The chair rotates in the order of the acronym. This was India's fourth chairship, after 2012, 2016 and 2021.
India's theme spelt the acronym: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.
The grouping's bank, the New Development Bank, was agreed at Fortaleza in 2014 and sits in Shanghai; Uzbekistan became its tenth member in June.

What the declaration said

It condemned the Pahalgam attack and called for zero tolerance and no double standards on terrorism, agreed with Iran and China in the room, though it did not name Pakistan.
It called for a Security Council more representative of developing countries, with China and Russia restating support for a greater role for India and Brazil.
It said unilateral tariffs distort trade and asked for the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement to be restored.
It urged maximum restraint in West Asia, including protection of nuclear facilities.
It made no reference to the war in Ukraine, unlike the Kazan (2024) and Rio (2025) declarations.

The eleven members of BRICS by year of joining, with what the New Delhi Declaration said and what it left out.Source: Ministry of External Affairs; The Hindu

Managing a divided grouping

Expansion put rivals in one room: Iran and the United Arab Emirates while the West Asia war continued. Earlier ministerial meetings had failed to agree statements.
The summit text was settled overnight, naming neither the American and Israeli strikes nor Iran's attacks on its neighbours.
Consensus by omission on Ukraine kept the room together but contrasts with India's G20 presidency of 2023, when it secured agreed language.
Brazil's President stayed away for his elections; Saudi Arabia, counted but never confirmed as a member, sent its Foreign Minister.

India's stakes and proposals

India used the chair to steer BRICS towards development and reform and away from an anti Western edge, which is how it squares membership with its Western partnerships.
It proposed a troika, as in the G20, so that decisions carry over between chairs; a roadmap on global governance reform; and a seafarers' distress network.
The terrorism language was a diplomatic gain; the trade language supports India in its dispute with the United States.
China chairs in 2027: the test of whether India's balance holds.

The way forward

Institutionalise the troika and a small secretariat, so that outcomes survive a change of chair.
Keep BRICS practical: payments in local currencies, the bank, disaster response.
Decide how to handle members at war with each other; silence may not be available a second time.

Prelims facts

18th BRICS Summit: New Delhi, 12 and 13 September 2026; declaration adopted on 12 September.
Members: eleven; Indonesia the latest, in 2025.
India's chairships: 2012, 2016, 2021, 2026. China chairs in 2027.
The New Development Bank was agreed at Fortaleza (2014) and sits in Shanghai.
The declaration condemned the Pahalgam attack and did not mention Ukraine.

See also: BRICS as a negotiating bloc

Earlier coverage: BRICS under India's chairship, 2026 · The monthly magazine, September 2026