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An intergovernmental grouping of major emerging economies — originally Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — that works by consensus without a charter or permanent secretariat.
BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies that coordinate on global economic governance, development finance, trade and political issues. It began as BRIC — Brazil, Russia, India and China — and became BRICS when South Africa joined in December 2010. The grouping has no founding treaty, no charter and no permanent secretariat: it works entirely by consensus, and the chairship rotates among members each year, with the chair hosting the annual leaders' summit. Since 2024 it has expanded well beyond the original five, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates from 1 January 2024 and Indonesia from 6 January 2025, and it has also created a lighter 'partner country' category. Members together account for close to half of the world's population and roughly 30 per cent of global economic output measured in purchasing-power-parity terms. India chaired BRICS in 2026 and hosted the 18th summit in New Delhi on 12-13 September 2026.
Type: BodyInformal grouping — no charter, no treaty and no permanent secretariat; decisions are taken by consensus and are politically, not legally, binding
Rotating annual chairship — the chair sets the theme, hosts hundreds of official meetings and hosts the leaders' summit
Two institutions of its own — the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), both agreed at the 2014 Fortaleza summit
Expanded membership since 2024, plus a separate 'partner country' tier created at the 2024 Kazan summit for states that engage without full membership
Positions itself as a voice of the Global South — pressing for reform of the UN Security Council, the IMF and the World Bank, and for more trade in local currencies
Saudi Arabia's status remains ambiguous: invited in the 2023 expansion, it takes part in meetings but has not publicly confirmed formal acceptance of membership
Frequency: BRICS appears almost every year in UPSC Prelims and in banking/SSC general-awareness papers, and recurs in Mains GS-2 on groupings involving India
BRICS began as an investment-banking label and turned into a diplomatic grouping within a decade. Its later story is one of institution-building (a bank and a reserve pool) followed by enlargement.
Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs coins 'BRIC' in the paper 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs'
Foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China meet in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly
First BRIC summit at Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June
South Africa is admitted in December; BRIC becomes BRICS
Agreement on the New Development Bank signed on 15 July at the 6th summit in Fortaleza, Brazil; the CRA treaty is signed alongside it
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE join on 1 January; the Kazan summit in October creates the partner-country category
Indonesia joins on 6 January; Brazil hosts the 17th summit in Rio de Janeiro in July
India chairs BRICS and hosts the 18th summit in New Delhi on 12-13 September; the New Delhi Declaration is adopted
New Development Bank (NDB)
Finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies
Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)
A USD 100 billion pool of currency swaps to support members facing short-term balance-of-payments pressure
BRICS Sherpas
Senior officials who negotiate the summit declaration through the chair's year
Brazil, Russia, India, China (2009); South Africa added 2010
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and UAE (2024) and Indonesia (2025) joined the original five
10 — Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Close to half
About 30 per cent; roughly a fifth of global trade
USD 100 billion authorised; USD 50 billion initially subscribed, shared equally by the five founders
USD 100 billion
12-13 September 2026, Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi; 140-paragraph New Delhi Declaration
Ahead of the 2026 New Delhi summit, China's Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, proposed a five-letter 'POWER' framework for the expanded grouping: P for Principle (upholding the UN Charter, sovereign equality, non-interference and peaceful settlement of disputes); O for Openness (defending WTO-centred multilateral trade against protectionism and decoupling, including cooperation on energy, minerals and supply chains); W for Win-Win (putting development and the Sustainable Development Goals at the centre, and expanding settlement in local currencies); E for Engine (using BRICS' economic weight to drive the digital economy, artificial intelligence and green technology); and R for Responsibility (Global South solidarity, and continuity across India's 2026 and China's 2027 chairships). Note carefully what it is: a proposal made by one member's ambassador, not an adopted BRICS document. The chair's own framing for 2026 was the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
Think of it as one member of a housing society circulating a five-point wish list before the annual meeting — worth reading to understand that member's priorities, but not the same thing as the minutes the society finally adopts.
BRICS is the main platform where India sits with China and Russia but without the West, which makes it both an opportunity and a balancing act. It gives India a stage to push reform of the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods institutions, to argue for the Global South on debt, climate finance and technology, and to build alternatives such as the NDB. At the same time India resists attempts to turn the grouping into an anti-Western bloc or a common-currency project, preferring practical steps such as trade settlement in national currencies. The 2026 New Delhi Declaration reflected this balance: it opposed unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures and protectionist carbon border adjustments inconsistent with WTO rules, and backed expanded roles for India and Brazil at the UN, without naming individual countries as adversaries.
BRIC coined by Jim O'Neill (Goldman Sachs) in 2001; first summit Yekaterinburg, 16 June 2009; South Africa joined December 2010
No charter, no secretariat — consensus-based, with an annual rotating chairship and summit
Expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE (1 January 2024), Indonesia (6 January 2025); Saudi Arabia invited but not formally confirmed
Partner countries created at Kazan 2024; ten listed at the 2026 summit
NDB — agreement signed at Fortaleza, 15 July 2014; headquartered in Shanghai; USD 100 billion authorised capital. CRA — USD 100 billion swap pool
India's chairships: 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2026; the 18th summit adopted the New Delhi Declaration on 12 September 2026
'POWER' (Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine, Responsibility) was proposed by the Chinese Ambassador to India, not adopted as a BRICS document
China chairs in 2027 and hosts the 19th summit
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the five original members. The acronym has stayed the same even after Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia joined.
Economist Jim O'Neill, then at Goldman Sachs, coined 'BRIC' in 2001 in a paper titled 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs'. It was an investment label before it became a diplomatic grouping.
In Shanghai, China, with an Africa Regional Centre in South Africa. The agreement establishing it was signed at the Fortaleza summit on 15 July 2014.
A five-pillar proposal — Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine, Responsibility — put forward by China's Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, before the 2026 New Delhi summit. It is a proposal, not an adopted BRICS document.
At the 2026 New Delhi summit the ten partners were Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Partners take part in BRICS activities without being full members.