Eleven Nations at Bharat Mandapam: India's BRICS Chairship Reaches Its Summit

The 18th BRICS Summit is being held at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, on 12 and 13 September 2026, the closing event of India's fourth chairship of the grouping. The lead-up day, 11 September 2026, carried two of the week's substantive events: the BRICS Business Forum, opened by Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, and the BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition at the same venue, organised by the Ministry of Education with the Ministry of External Affairs.

India assumed the chairship on 1 January 2026 under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" — an acronym-friendly restatement of the bloc's own name — framed around the vision of "Humanity First". The year is also a round anniversary: 2026 marks 20 years of BRICS.

From a corridor in New York to a summit in Delhi

The grouping did not begin as a summit. Its first meeting was a foreign ministers' encounter on 20 September 2006, on the margins of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Russia, Brazil and China were represented by their foreign ministers and India by its defence minister. The acronym itself was older still — coined in a 2001 investment-bank paper about four fast-growing economies, and then adopted by those economies as a political identity, which is an unusual reversal worth remembering.

The first standalone summit followed at Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June 2009. South Africa was admitted in 2010 and attended its first summit at Sanya, China, in 2011, turning BRIC into BRICS. That five-member configuration held for thirteen years.

India has now chaired four times — 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2026. The 2012 and 2021 summits were also hosted by India (the 2021 edition was virtual and produced a New Delhi Declaration), while the 2016 Goa Summit is the one most often cited in exam papers for its language on cross-border terrorism.

Who is actually in the room

The 15th Summit at Johannesburg in August 2023 invited six countries to join. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates accepted and joined on 1 January 2024. Argentina declined after a change of government in December 2023. Saudi Arabia was invited and is listed by the grouping, but has repeatedly said it has not formally completed accession — a nuance worth knowing, because statement-based questions like to test exactly this kind of asymmetry. Indonesia joined as a full member in January 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member.

The bloc is therefore usually described as an eleven-member grouping, accounting for close to half the world's population, roughly 40% of global GDP and, as Shri Goyal noted at the Business Forum, nearly one-fourth of global trade. A second tier of partner countries attends without full membership, and the Delhi summit also has outreach invitees — the standard instrument by which BRICS courts the wider Global South.

Two institutions give the grouping more than declaratory weight. The New Development Bank, agreed at the Fortaleza Summit in 2014 and headquartered in Shanghai, lends for infrastructure and sustainable development with equal founding shareholdings — a deliberate contrast with the weighted voting of the Bretton Woods institutions. The Contingent Reserve Arrangement, a $100 billion currency-swap safety net, was created alongside it. When a question asks what BRICS has built, these two are the answer; the frequently reported "BRICS currency" is not one of them.

What India asked the bloc for

At the Business Forum, Shri Goyal pressed three specific asks, and the numbers behind them are the exam-usable part.

Open the markets. He noted that for 88% of countries, non-tariff measures impose higher export costs than tariffs themselves — a reminder that the modern barrier is a standards certificate or a clearance delay, not a customs duty. He asked members to simplify regulatory procedures and speed up consignment clearance, and specifically to open markets for raw materials and critical minerals, arguing that supply chains are resilient only when they "run both ways."

Link the payment systems. He urged members and partners to connect payment infrastructure and settle trade in local currencies. India's exhibit here is the Unified Payments Interface, which he described as handling over 250 billion transactions a year — more than half of all such transactions worldwide by volume — and now accepted in 11 countries. This is the practical face of what is loosely called de-dollarisation: not a common currency, but rupee-rouble-real settlement rails. Students tracking the balance of payments and exchange rate mechanics will recognise why invoicing currency matters more than tariff lines for a country running a large trade deficit with one member.

Widen the sectors. Agriculture and agri-tech startups for food security, pharmaceuticals — India being, in his phrase, the pharmacy of the world — engineering goods and electronics, which form the largest segment of India's manufactured exports, plus automobiles, services, startups and emerging technologies. He also asked for genuine services-market opening: movement of professionals across borders and mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which is where most services trade negotiations actually stall.

He added two data points on entrepreneurship: more than 45% of India's 2,50,000 recognised startups have at least one woman partner or director, and two-thirds of small loans disbursed over the last decade went to women entrepreneurs. The BRICS Women's Business Alliance had met in New Delhi earlier in the week.

The session was also addressed by H.E. Maxim Reshetnikov, Russia's Minister of Economic Development, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of State Shri Jitin Prasada and Commerce Secretary Shri Rajesh Agrawal. Dr Jaishankar's framing named supply-chain connectivity, trade facilitation and innovation as the priorities — the same triad that runs through India's international trade positions at the WTO.

The deep-tech shop window

The BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition, running 11-12 September 2026, puts 37 Indian deep-tech startups in front of visiting heads of state, CEOs and investors. They were drawn from a cohort of 120 that had shown at the maiden Bharat Innovates edition in Nice, France, from 14 to 16 June 2026, held under the India-France Year of Innovation 2026 and jointly inaugurated by the Prime Minister and President Emmanuel Macron.

That first edition is the benchmark the Delhi show is measured against: 13 thematic areas, 15 institutions including IITs, IISc, BIRAC and iDEX, over 2,000 participants from 29 countries, more than 30 MoUs, 1,350 B2B meetings and funding commitments of US$254.5 million. Matchmaking in Delhi is being facilitated with FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM.

The exposition sits under the BRICS Education Track priority of "Enhancing Research, Innovation and Start-up Ecosystems". The Ministry of Education had already hosted the 13th BRICS Education Ministers' Meeting on 7 August 2026 and the 3rd Senior Officials' Meeting on Education on 5 August 2026, both at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Two bilaterals on the margins

Summit sidelines often carry more bilateral content than the summit itself, and 11 September produced two.

With President Vladimir Putin, this was the second meeting of the year, the first having been at Bishkek on 31 August 2026 on the sidelines of the 26th SCO Summit. The leaders reviewed political, economic, defence, energy, space and skill-mobility cooperation, and jointly visited INNOPROM India — Russia's international industrial exhibition, held in India for the first time from 9 to 11 September 2026. They discussed the conflicts in West Asia and the Black Sea region and their effect on maritime trade and the safety of Indian seafarers. President Putin invited the Prime Minister to Russia for the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit; the invitation was accepted, with dates to be fixed through diplomatic channels. The relationship's formal label — a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership — is the exact phrase that appears in objective questions.

With President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran, this was the second meeting in under a fortnight, also following Bishkek. The conversation centred on West Asia, with India restating its position that disputes be settled through dialogue and diplomacy, and stressing freedom of navigation and commerce and the welfare of seafarers — the maritime-security thread that connects Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and India's energy imports.

Where the grouping's limits show

An honest reading matters more in an interview than a list of outcomes. BRICS operates by consensus, which means eleven members with divergent interests must agree on every declaration, and expansion has widened those divergences rather than narrowed them. India runs a large and persistent trade deficit with one member, which is precisely why the Indian pitch is for balanced trade and market access rather than simply more trade. Talk of a common currency remains aspirational; what is actually being built is payment-system interoperability and local-currency settlement, which is a slower and less dramatic project. And the bloc contains two members with an unresolved boundary dispute, which caps how far security cooperation can go.

None of that makes it ornamental. A development bank with real disbursements, a $100 billion reserve arrangement, and a standing platform where the Global South sets its own agenda are outcomes that did not exist twenty years ago.

🔑 Revision block

The event. 18th BRICS Summit, Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, 12-13 September 2026; India's 4th chairship, assumed 1 January 2026.

The theme. "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", vision "Humanity First".

Origins to memorise. First meeting September 2006 at the 61st UNGA margins; first summit Yekaterinburg 2009; South Africa 2010; 2026 = 20 years.

Membership. Founding five plus Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE (1 January 2024) and Indonesia (January 2025); Saudi Arabia invited but has not confirmed accession; Argentina declined. Commonly counted as 11.

Weight. Nearly half the world's population, about 40% of global GDP, roughly one-fourth of global trade.

Institutions. New Development Bank — agreed at Fortaleza 2014, headquartered in Shanghai. Contingent Reserve Arrangement — $100 billion.

Figures from the Business Forum. Non-tariff measures cost more than tariffs for 88% of countries; UPI over 250 billion transactions a year, accepted in 11 countries; 45%-plus of 2,50,000 recognised Indian startups have a woman partner or director.

Exposition. 37 deep-tech startups on 11-12 September, from the 120-startup cohort shown at Nice, 14-16 June 2026; Nice yielded US$254.5 million in commitments and 1,350 B2B meetings.

Bilaterals. Putin — second meeting of 2026 after Bishkek (26th SCO Summit, 31 August); INNOPROM India 9-11 September; invitation to the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit accepted. Pezeshkian — West Asia, freedom of navigation, seafarers.

🎯 Practice MCQs

Q1. The 18th BRICS Summit, held in September 2026, took place at: (a) Rashtrapati Bhavan (b) Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi (c) Hyderabad House (d) Vigyan Bhawan → (b).

Q2. India's BRICS chairship in 2026 is its: (a) Second (b) Third (c) Fourth (d) Fifth → (c) — after 2012, 2016 and 2021.

Q3. The theme of India's 2026 BRICS chairship is: (a) Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development (b) Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability (c) BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Accelerated Growth (d) Collaboration for Equitable Global Development → (b).

Q4. The New Development Bank was agreed at which BRICS summit, and is headquartered where? (a) Sanya 2011, Beijing (b) Fortaleza 2014, Shanghai (c) Ufa 2015, Moscow (d) Goa 2016, New Delhi → (b).

Q5. The Contingent Reserve Arrangement of BRICS is worth: (a) $50 billion (b) $75 billion (c) $100 billion (d) $200 billion → (c).

Q6. Which country was invited to join BRICS in 2023 but declined? (a) Saudi Arabia (b) Indonesia (c) Argentina (d) Ethiopia → (c) — it declined after a change of government in December 2023.

Q7. Indonesia became a full member of BRICS in: (a) January 2024 (b) January 2025 (c) July 2025 (d) January 2026 → (b).

Q8. At the BRICS Business Forum 2026, it was stated that non-tariff measures impose higher export costs than tariffs for what share of countries? (a) 55% (b) 72% (c) 88% (d) 94% → (c).

Q9. The maiden Bharat Innovates exposition of 2026 was held at: (a) Paris, France (b) Nice, France (c) Lyon, France (d) Marseille, France → (b) — 14-16 June 2026, under the India-France Year of Innovation.

Q10. The Modi-Putin meeting of 11 September 2026 followed an earlier 2026 meeting at: (a) Vladivostok, Eastern Economic Forum (b) Kazan, BRICS Summit (c) Bishkek, 26th SCO Summit (d) Johannesburg, G20 Summit → (c) — 31 August 2026.

Q11. Russia's international industrial exhibition held in India for the first time from 9 to 11 September 2026 was: (a) ARMY-2026 (b) INNOPROM India (c) EXPO-Russia (d) ROSTEC India → (b).

Q12. Consider the following: 1. BRICS took its present name after South Africa joined in 2010. 2. The first BRIC summit preceded the first BRIC foreign ministers' meeting. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both (d) Neither → (a) — the ministers met in 2006, three years before the 2009 Yekaterinburg summit.

📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)

Multilateral-grouping questions in CDS and OTA papers run along four predictable rails. The chronology item asks for the year of formation, the first summit or the year a member joined — and its favourite trap is swapping the 2006 first meeting with the 2009 first summit, or dating South Africa's entry to its first attended summit in 2011 rather than its 2010 admission. The membership item gives a list and asks which country is not a member, with Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Nigeria the recurring distractors. The institution item tests the New Development Bank's founding summit and headquarters, or the size of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, often planting the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a decoy. The venue-and-theme item asks where the latest summit was held and under whose chairship.

The fresh 2026 hook is the 18th Summit at Bharat Mandapam on 12-13 September under India's fourth chairship, with the 20-year anniversary and the Indonesia-and-Saudi membership nuance as the most likely statement pair. Prepare it alongside the world political geography of the member states, because the map question and the grouping question are frequently the same question. We describe the recurring pattern here, not any exact past question.

Preparing for CDS or OTA? Groupings like BRICS, the SCO and the G20 return in every cycle, and the marks go to whoever has the dates and institutions cold rather than the rhetoric. Build the base with our CDS/OTA economy hub, follow the daily CDS/OTA current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.

✍️ Written by Hitendra Deswal — Economy & current affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).

Source: PIB / Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Education and Prime Minister's Office, 11 September 2026. BRICS chronology, membership status and institutional details cross-verified with the official BRICS India 2026 site and independent reporting.