New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a major diplomatic balancing act as India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New Delhi ahead of the September 12-13 leaders’ meeting, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to arrive on Saturday. For New Delhi, the summit is an opportunity to demonstrate its diplomatic reach while advancing its own strategic and economic interests in an increasingly divided world.
The timing of the summit is significant. The wars in Ukraine and West Asia, tensions between the United States and China, uncertainty over global trade, and demands from developing countries for a greater say in international institutions have created a complex backdrop for the expanded BRICS grouping. As the current chair, India is seeking to keep the focus on cooperation and development while navigating differences among its members.
Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday for the summit and is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Modi. The Russian president’s visit comes as India continues to maintain its longstanding strategic partnership with Moscow, with defence, energy, trade and technology among the key areas of cooperation. His visit also gives Modi an opportunity to discuss wider geopolitical developments, including the war in Ukraine and the continuing instability in West Asia.
Pezeshkian is also in the capital for the summit and is scheduled to meet Modi. It is the Iranian president’s first visit to India since taking office and the first visit by an Iranian president to the country in more than eight years. The meeting comes at a particularly important time, with the conflict in West Asia continuing to affect regional security, energy supplies and international trade routes. Modi and Pezeshkian had met just 10 days earlier on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek.
The biggest diplomatic focus, however, will be on Xi.
China has confirmed that Xi will attend the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13 at Modi’s invitation. It will be his first visit to India in seven years. Beijing has also said that China and India are arranging a bilateral meeting between Xi and Modi, making the Chinese president’s visit particularly significant for New Delhi.
A Modi-Xi meeting would come against the backdrop of efforts by India and China to stabilise relations after years of tensions following the 2020 military confrontation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. The two sides have taken steps towards easing tensions, but the boundary dispute and wider strategic and economic differences remain unresolved.
For Modi, therefore, the interaction with Xi will extend beyond the BRICS agenda. It will provide an opportunity to assess the trajectory of India-China ties while making clear that greater engagement does not mean that differences on the border and other strategic issues have disappeared.
This is also where India’s approach to BRICS assumes importance.
New Delhi has sought to position BRICS as a constructive and solutions-orientated platform for cooperation and as an important voice for the Global South, rather than as an anti-Western alliance. India’s 2026 chairship is guided by the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, with development, sustainability and innovation at the centre of its agenda.
The economic agenda is expected to be a major focus. Discussions within the grouping have covered areas such as trade, investment, technology, innovation, energy and food security, disaster resilience and critical supply chains. India has also pushed initiatives aimed at strengthening cooperation in agriculture, digital technology and other areas of practical development.
The economic weight of BRICS gives India considerable room to pursue this agenda. The 11-member grouping accounts for 49.5% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade, according to Indian government figures.
Financial cooperation is another important area. BRICS members have discussed greater use of local currencies and alternative payment mechanisms as they seek to make cross-border trade less dependent on existing financial systems. But India has maintained a cautious approach, focusing on practical economic cooperation rather than turning BRICS into an explicitly anti-dollar or anti-Western platform.
The geopolitical differences within the grouping, however, will be difficult to overlook.
The expanded BRICS now brings together countries with different positions on major international conflicts and competing regional interests. Russia and China have close strategic ties, and Iran remains at the centre of tensions in West Asia, while India continues to maintain strong relationships with the US and European countries. This diversity gives BRICS greater global reach but also makes consensus harder.
For India, that makes the Delhi summit an important test of its ability to build common ground without compromising its own foreign-policy priorities.
Modi has sought to set a constructive tone ahead of the meeting. In a message ahead of the summit, he said he was confident that the gathering would feature positive and meaningful discussions on issues of global welfare.
The BRICS Business Forum, being held ahead of the leaders’ summit, is also putting the economic dimension of India’s chairship in focus. Business and government representatives are discussing trade, investment, technology, innovation and ways to strengthen supply chains.
The larger Indian objective is to use the chairship to reinforce the country’s position as a leading voice of the Global South while preserving the strategic flexibility that has become a defining feature of its foreign policy.
That means maintaining the longstanding relationship with Russia, carefully managing the relationship with China and deepening engagement with Iran, even as India expands its strategic partnerships with the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and other countries.
With Putin and Pezeshkian already in Delhi and Xi due on Saturday, Modi will have to navigate some of the world’s most difficult geopolitical fault lines from the Indian capital.
For New Delhi, the success of the BRICS Summit will therefore be measured not merely by the optics of bringing major world leaders together, but by whether India can turn that diplomatic reach into practical economic cooperation, a stronger Global South voice and greater strategic space to pursue its own interests.
The Delhi summit is ultimately an opportunity for India to demonstrate that it can engage with competing power centres without becoming part of any one camp — and use that diplomatic flexibility to advance its own priorities.
