India, as the incoming chair of BRICS in 2026, intends to assertively champion the interests of the Global South throughout its presidency, elevating the bloc’s role as a platform for reforming global financial institutions, enhancing trade and investment, and amplifying the collective voice of developing nations.

Ambassador Vinay Kumar, in an interview with TASS, articulated that India's chairmanship will focus on leveraging BRICS to address imbalances in the international financial architecture that often disadvantage emerging economies, while also driving conversation and policy shifts that promote equitable growth across the global south.

Echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, the ambassador conveyed that India is determined "to define BRICS in a new form," emphasising a transformation of the grouping to “Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability”—a motto designed to reflect India’s commitment to inclusivity, innovation, and sustainable development within BRICS.

This approach follows the precedent set during India’s G20 presidency, where advocacy for Global South priorities—such as poverty reduction, food security, global health risks, and sustainable energy—dominated the agenda, ensuring that the concerns of less-developed countries received substantial attention in high-level multilateral discourse.

A central feature of India’s BRICS agenda will be an explicit focus on "people-centricity and humanity first," signalling a paradigm shift away from abstract institutional reform towards policies that tangibly enhance the well-being of millions through targeted interventions in fields such as public health, technology development, and climate change mitigation.

Ambassador Kumar stressed that India will prioritise these global challenges, aiming for collaborative solutions to pressing issues like pandemic preparedness, digital divide, and low-carbon transitions, reflecting BRICS’ growing responsibility in shaping global governance outcomes.

On the bilateral front, India and Russia are engaged in advanced discussions to simplify payments for travellers—an effort to foster ease of movement for students, tourists, and business visitors between the two nations. The Indo-Russian Working Group on Banking and Finance is actively working on technical aspects of payment messaging systems and mechanisms, with the goal of streamlining financial transactions and eliminating barriers for all categories of travellers.

Russian tourists visiting India can utilise banking services offered by Russian institutions such as VTB and Sberbank, whose Indian branches facilitate secure and convenient transactions, further deepening person-to-person ties and supporting expanding educational, cultural, and commercial exchanges.

Diplomatic momentum between India and Russia continues to intensify, demonstrated by the recent meeting on August 21 between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, where both sides reviewed bilateral relations and meticulously planned for the upcoming annual summit.

These discussions underscore the "special strategic relationship" shared between India and Russia—a partnership marked by routine high-level guidance and cooperation across political, defence, energy, and technological spheres.

India’s forthcoming BRICS chairmanship is expected to be marked by a vigorously proactive stance for the Global South, strong advocacy for institutional reform, and a people-centred thematic approach, while concurrently strengthening its strategic alignment and bilateral undertakings with Russia, thereby setting the stage for impactful multilateral diplomacy during BRICS 2026.

Based On ANI Report