China will push for a 'Greater BRICS': Ex-foreign secretary decodes Delhi summit, says test will come in 2027
China will push for a 'Greater BRICS': Ex-foreign secretary decodes Delhi summit, says test will come in 2027
India will support institutional reform and greater representation for the Global South, but resist turning BRICS into a China-led geopolitical pole, says former foreign secretary
'China will probably push for a Greater BRICS,' says former ambassador Nirupama Rao
India's approach to BRICS is aimed at reforming the international order without turning the grouping into an anti-Western bloc, former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said on Sunday.
"The Delhi BRICS Summit offered an important picture of India’s place in a fragmenting world," Rao said in a detailed post on X. New Delhi, she said, sees value in a grouping that is non-Western, but "little advantage in allowing it to become explicitly anti-Western."
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The objective, Rao said, is "reform without rupture" - a more representative international order, greater agency for the Global South and protection against economic coercion, while retaining access to Western markets, capital and technology. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the distinction explicit when he said BRICS was "not against anyone", she said.
Rao served as foreign secretary from August 2009 to July 2011 and India's ambassador to the US from August 2011 to November 2013.
The next BRICS summit will be held in China in 2027.
The Delhi BRICS Summit offered an important picture of India’s place in a fragmenting world. New Delhi clearly sees value in a grouping that is non-Western, but little advantage in allowing it to become explicitly anti-Western. The objective is reform without rupture: a more…
India also resisted attempts to turn the summit into a platform for anti-American rhetoric. There was no endorsement of a common BRICS currency or a dramatic declaration on de-dollarisation.
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Instead, the focus remained on national-currency settlements, faster cross-border payments, resilient supply chains, digital public infrastructure, health, food and energy security, and reform of the UN, IMF and World Bank.
The former ambassador said India also secured a significant diplomatic success by getting all members to endorse the New Delhi Declaration despite sharp differences between Iran and the UAE over West Asia.
Consensus, however, was preserved through carefully generalised language. "This exposed both BRICS’s value and its limitation," she said. The grouping can keep difficult conversations alive and affirm broad principles, but struggles to assign responsibility or organise collective action when the interests of its members collide.
The meeting between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the durability of India-Russia ties at a time when Moscow is under Western sanctions and increasingly dependent on China, Rao said.
India continues to see Russia as an energy, defence and strategic partner, while seeking to expand the relationship into technology, manufacturing and industrial cooperation.
But New Delhi did not endorse Moscow’s more confrontational view of BRICS as an alternative order challenging Western rules. "Engagement with Russia remains an important part of India’s strategic autonomy, but there is no evidence of alignment with a Russian-Chinese bloc," the foreign secretary said.
The meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping was more consequential, she said, although its results were deliberately modest.
Xi's first visit to India in nearly seven years restored political space for engagement. The two leaders supported greater business links, mobility, and cultural exchanges, and discussed India's structural trade imbalance, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and the need for meaningful market access.
The bilateral relations between India and China had plunged after clashes in Ladakh in 2020. Xi had last visited India in 2019.
PM Modi also reiterated that peace and tranquillity along the border, along with mutual sensitivity, remain essential to the wider relationship.
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The outcome was "managed stabilisation, not a strategic reset", Rao said.
India and China have acknowledged the need for coexistence, competition and selective cooperation without pretending that mistrust has disappeared.
'Test Will Come Under China In 2027'
The former secretary said that the BRICS gives India one of the few settings where this competitive coexistence can be practised. It allows New Delhi to engage China and Russia while maintaining partnerships with the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
"BRICS widens India's diplomatic and economic choices," she said.
But the real test will come in 2027, when China takes over the BRICS presidency. "Beijing will probably push for a 'Greater BRICS', stronger political coordination and reduced dependence on Western financial systems," Rao said.
India, she added, will support institutional reform and greater representation for the Global South, but resist turning BRICS into a China-led geopolitical pole.
BRICS matters to India not because it offers a replacement world order, Rao said, but because it helps prevent any single power or coalition from monopolising the existing one. "It provides India more room for manoeuvre, in an age of unstable multipolarity."
India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13 under its BRICS chairship. The summit brought together representatives of the expanded 11-member grouping.
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Among the key leaders attending were Xi, Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
The UAE was represented by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while Brazil was represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
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