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The Department of Telecommunications will organise the BRICS ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) Track in Pune from 17 to 21 August 2026 as part of India's BRICS Chairship for 2026.
The Track's theme is 'Innovate, Cooperate and Transform (ICT) for a Resilient Future', and it carries three events over five days.
The 7th Meeting of the BRICS Working Group for Cooperation in ICTs runs 17-19 August 2026; the Digital BRICS Forum and Expo is on 20 August 2026; the 12th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting is on 21 August 2026.
Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia will represent India at the Ministers Meeting.
Priority areas include universal and affordable connectivity, trusted and human-centric digital environments, digital skilling, artificial intelligence, next-generation communications, Digital Public Infrastructure, cybersecurity and child online protection.
BRICS-founded multilateral development bank mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market and developing economies. The agreement establishing it was signed at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil
A liquidity and precautionary framework to support members facing actual or potential short-term balance-of-payments pressures; designed to complement the global financial safety net formed by the IMF, regional financing arrangements and bilateral central bank swaps
The nodal department for telecom policy, spectrum assignment and licensing in India, and the organiser of the BRICS ICT Track
The United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies — allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops technical standards and works on universal access
Received presidential assent on 24 December 2023 and consolidates the law on development, expansion and operation of telecommunication services and networks and on spectrum assignment. It replaces the colonial-era Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933; specified provisions were brought into force on 26 June 2024 and 5 July 2024
Signed on 15 July 2014 at Fortaleza, Brazil, it created the USD 100 billion CRA. It is one of the two institutional pillars — alongside the NDB agreement — that turned BRICS from a consultative forum into a grouping with financial machinery
| Aspect | New Development Bank | Contingent Reserve Arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A multilateral development bank | A currency-swap style liquidity arrangement between central banks |
| Purpose | Finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects | Supports members facing short-term balance-of-payments pressure |
| Where created | Agreement signed at the 6th BRICS Summit, Fortaleza (2014) | Treaty signed on 15 July 2014 at Fortaleza |
| Size / capital | Operations began in 2015 with its own subscribed capital | USD 100 billion committed: China 41, Brazil/India/Russia 18 each, South Africa 5 (USD billion) |
| Seat | Headquartered in Shanghai | No headquarters; operated through member central banks |
| Comparable global body | World Bank / regional development banks | IMF and bilateral central bank swap lines |
DPI appears among the ICT Working Group's priority areas. India has made DPI a standing export of its diplomacy across the G20 and now BRICS, which is why the same phrase recurs in outcome documents of very different groupings
Named twice in the release — as a Working Group priority and as a Digital BRICS Forum panel theme. It links BRICS ICT work to domestic intermediary and safety regulation debates
The ITU's South Asia Area Office and Innovation Centre in New Delhi gives India an institutional foothold in global ICT standard-setting; the BRICS ICT Track is the plurilateral counterpart of that multilateral position
The eleven-member list in the release is itself the exam point: the original five (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) plus Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia. Argentina is the classic distractor because it was invited in the expansion round but is not on this list
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, regional and global groupings involving India
General Awareness > International financial institutions — NDB, CRA
Current Affairs > International organisations and summits
Consider the following pairs: I. Woman Farmer : 2026 II. Sustainable Tourism : 2027 III. Peace and Trust : 2025 IV. Asteroid : 2029 How many... correctly matched?
Answer: All the four
BRICS institutions and India's Chairship are high-frequency in UPSC Prelims IR, and NDB/CRA are staples of banking general awareness
The annual rotating presidency of BRICS; the Chair hosts the summit and the year's sectoral tracks. India holds it for 2026
The information and communication technologies strand of a BRICS Chairship calendar — an officials' working group, a business forum and a ministerial meeting
Shared, interoperable digital building blocks such as identity, payments and data exchange, used as public utilities
The BRICS USD 100 billion mutual support framework against short-term balance-of-payments pressures, created by the Fortaleza treaty of 15 July 2014