New Delhi: India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12-13, bringing together leaders from BRICS member and partner countries, as well as outreach invitees, for discussions on trade, finance, digital payments and global and regional issues.
The summit is being attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, among other leaders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with at least 15 visiting leaders on the sidelines of the summit. The engagements include a meeting with Xi Jinping, who is visiting India for the first time in nearly seven years.
On Friday, Modi held separate bilateral meetings with Pezeshkian, Putin, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New Delhi.
BRICS Focuses on Local Currency Trade
Trade and financial cooperation are among the key areas of discussion at the summit, with BRICS members examining ways to strengthen cross-border payments and facilitate greater use of national currencies in trade and investment.
During the preliminary BRICS Business Forum sessions, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for greater integration of national digital payment networks among member countries.
Goyal highlighted India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has crossed 250 billion annual transactions, and said India is working to make digital trade more accessible and frictionless across the BRICS bloc.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from BRICS countries also called for practical measures to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, more transparent, and safer.
In a joint statement issued in Mumbai, the leaders said that the BRICS Payment Task Force is studying the interoperability of cross-border payment and messaging systems under the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative.
The statement also supported efforts to encourage local-currency settlements for trade and investment while acknowledging that there is no single approach applicable to all member countries. Such initiatives, it said, would take into account national priorities.
The countdown ends. The 18th BRICS Summit begins.
Stay tuned as dialogue, deliberation and cooperation unfold in New Delhi.#BRICS2026 #BRICSIndia2026 #IndiaBRICSChairship pic.twitter.com/tNg7j8P4cY
— BRICS 2026 (@BricsIndia2026) September 12, 2026
India Pushes Trade and Startup Cooperation
Addressing the BRICS Business Forum, Modi outlined a roadmap based on the theme, “Make in India, Innovate with India, Scale for the World.”
He proposed removing the top 10 trade barriers among BRICS countries and creating a pipeline to scale 100 cross-border startups annually.
The discussions also covered ways to strengthen economic cooperation among member countries and develop mechanisms to reduce the impact of global economic uncertainties.
BRICS Leaders on their arrival at Bharat Mandapam for the BRICS Business Forum. #BRICS2026 #BRICSIndia2026 #IndiaBRICSChairship pic.twitter.com/gupAs3Ml5g
— BRICS 2026 (@BricsIndia2026) September 11, 2026
India’s BRICS Chairship
India’s BRICS Chairship for 2026 is guided by the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” The theme reflects Modi’s vision of a people-centric approach based on the principle of “Humanity First,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
The summit will also provide an opportunity for leaders to discuss global and regional developments and explore greater cooperation on shared priorities.
India is a founding member of BRICS and has previously held the group’s chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. It assumed its fourth chairship on January 1, 2026.
The year also marks 20 years since the establishment of BRICS. Under India’s chairship, more than 350 meetings and high-level engagements have been held across more than 25 cities.
BRICS currently comprises Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The BRICS partner countries are Belarus, Cuba, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
