Recalibrating BRICS: India’s Moment in a Fragmented World

The episode begins with a reflection on Brazil’s 2025 BRICS presidency, which emphasized continuity with the bloc’s original reformist agenda—particularly the push for reform of global financial institutions and greater representation for emerging economies. While Brazil focused on trade facilitation, climate finance, and taxation cooperation, progress on deeper monetary coordination and mechanisms such as the Contingent Reserve Arrangement remained limited.

Ana Garcia also notes the gap between expectations and reality within BRICS. Despite its growing geopolitical visibility, the bloc has struggled to develop unified responses to global crises and remains economically imbalanced, with intra-BRICS trade heavily centered on China. The New Development Bank continues to expand its project financing and local currency lending but operates within global financial constraints and plays a more limited role than often perceived.

Looking ahead, India’s presidency will focus on consolidating the expanded BRICS grouping while cautiously advancing financial cooperation, climate adaptation financing, and South-South collaboration in health. The discussion concludes that India’s success will depend on pragmatic institutional progress rather than ambitious rhetoric, as BRICS navigates a complex and polarized global environment.

Episode Contributors

Vrinda Sahai is a research analyst in the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India. Her work focuses on Indian foreign and security policy, particularly, India’s strategic engagement with major powers.

Ana Elisa Saggioro Garcia is a Professor at the Institute of International Relations at PUC-Rio. Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Social Sciences at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. PhD in International Relations from IRI/PUC-Rio and Master in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin (Germany).

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