Brics as a bloc for India to build global influence

The Brics Summit currently underway in Brazil is stirring a great deal of unease, curiosity, enthusiasm, and hope — depending on your geographical location — about the potential influence of this 11-member grouping in shaping global geopolitics as the postwar order unravels.

- Happymon Jacob

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation at the Brics, following the country's recent attendance at the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting, its presence at the G7 summit in mid-June, and the Defence Ministers’ Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) a few weeks ago, highlights the complex geopolitical fault lines Delhi must navigate.

So what value does the Brics provide to its members? Brics offers its member countries different value propositions. For many nations, particularly in the Global South, Brics functions as a significant platform to voice their historical grievances and concerns that have often been overlooked by developed countries. For Russia, China and Iran, this is a growing global forum where they can challenge the US and its allies and discuss ways to forge a global geopolitical alternative to the US-led order (even though both Russia and China are key members of that order by virtue of being members of the UN Security Council). For new and aspiring members, Brics represents a promise of future geopolitical influence; no one wants to be left behind as discussions about shaping the new world order gain momentum.