Inviting Bangladesh not as a would-be BRICS member but as the chair of BIMSTEC lets India serve two goals at once: signalling a stabilisation of ties with Dhaka, and giving weight to BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal grouping India has promoted as an alternative regional platform. It also fits India's framing of its BRICS chairmanship around outreach to the Global South. The invitation is diplomatically notable because Bangladesh has previously shown interest in joining BRICS, a bid backed by China and Russia, so India engaging it through BIMSTEC keeps the relationship on India's preferred track.