BRICS 2025: Leadership, Vision, and the Future of Global South

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the traditional power structures forged in the post-World War II era are being re-evaluated. As Western-led institutions face questions over legitimacy and inclusiveness, new multilateral platforms are emerging to reflect contemporary global realities. One of the most prominent among them is BRICS—an alliance of emerging and diverse economies seeking to democratize global governance.

The 2025 BRICS Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, was a pivotal moment in the group’s evolution. With 11 full members, expanded partnerships, and bold new initiatives, the summit showed that it is no longer just a symbol of emerging market strength—it’s a forum shaping a multipolar, equitable, and sustainable global future.

Genesis: From Acronym to Action

Its origin date back to 2001, when British economist Jim O’Neill coined the acronym “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India, China) to describe the economic potential of these rising powers. At the time, it was more of a financial curiosity than a political vision. However, in 2006, the foreign ministers of BRIC countries met informally at the UN General Assembly. That moment of dialogue planted the seeds for what would become a global bloc.

In 2009, the first official BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, amidst the global financial crisis. The founding members united to question the unipolar economic order and called for reforms in institutions like the IMF and World Bank. The following year, South Africa was invited to join, adding an African dimension to the bloc and transforming BRIC into BRICS.

Since then, the group has held 17 summits, created its own financial institutions, expanded membership, and become a symbol of Global South solidarity.

What Does BRICS Stand For?

Though often misunderstood as a mere economic club, BRICS rests on three foundational pillars:

1. Political and Security Cooperation

BRICS champions a multipolar world, where no single country or bloc dominates. It supports UN reform, peaceful conflict resolution, and respect for international law. Members collaborate on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and global peacebuilding.

2. Economic and Financial Collaboration

Deepening trade ties, supporting sustainable infrastructure, and building alternatives to dollar-centric systems are core objectives. The New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) exemplify its move toward financial autonomy.

3. People-to-People & Cultural Exchanges

Recognizing the power of civil society, it invests in youth forums, education summits, think tank networks, and cultural diplomacy to build mutual trust and societal links.

BRICS’ informal character—with no headquarters or binding treaty—provides flexibility and agility, enabling cooperation across sectors without the bureaucracy of more rigid international organizations.

Major Achievements Over the Years

🏦 New Development Bank (NDB)

Launched in 2014, the NDB is a South-led response to Western-dominated lenders. With a focus on infrastructure, clean energy, and inclusive growth, it funds projects without imposing harsh conditionalities. In recent years, it has begun offering loans in local currencies, protecting borrowers from currency shocks.

💵 Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)

The CRA is a $100 billion fund that offers liquidity support to member nations during financial crises. Though still untested on a large scale, it represents a serious attempt at economic self-reliance.

📈 Intra-BRICS Trade Growth

Despite internal economic differences, trade among members has grown substantially. As of 2024, BRICS accounted for over 30% of global GDP and 45% of the global population.

🏥 Pandemic Solidarity

During COVID-19, BRICS nations coordinated vaccine production and distribution. India and China became vital suppliers for the developing world. Member nations also initiated health cooperation forums that now focus on pandemic preparedness and universal health access.

The Rio Summit 2025: Expansion, Strategy, and the Spirit of Solidarity

The 17th BRICS Summit, hosted by Brazil in July 2025, was a turning point. Held under the theme:

“Advancing Global South Cooperation for Inclusive and Sustainable Governance,”

The summit represented a strategic reassertion of the bloc’s goals in a shifting world.

📜 The Rio Declaration

At its heart was the Rio Declaration, a document that:

• Called for genuine multilateralism, rooted in equality and mutual respect.
• Criticized unilateral sanctions and political coercion.
• Advocated for reforms in UN Security Council, WTO, and global development banks.
• Supported new initiatives like the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.

A Historic Expansion: BRICS Grows in Influence

The most significant outcome was the expansion of the bloc’s membership and partnerships.

🔹 Indonesia joins as the 11th full member, marking a strategic inclusion from Southeast Asia.

🔹 New Partner Countries- Eleven additional nations were welcomed as strategic partners, including:

• Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe.

This move signals a clear intent: BRICS is not just growing—it is transforming into a global platform for the Global South, connecting Latin America, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Key Declarations and New Initiatives

🌿 Climate Finance Leadership

• A new BRICS Climate Finance Framework was adopted to fund green infrastructure in developing nations.
• Brazil proposed an Amazon Preservation Fund, inviting Global North contributions under common but differentiated responsibilities.

🤖 AI and Technology Regulation

• It launched its first Statement on Global AI Governance, emphasizing fairness, transparency, and data sovereignty.
• India and South Africa will co-chair a new working group on AI ethics and open-source access.

🧬 Health Equity Pact

• The BRICS Partnership for Elimination of Socially Determined Diseases was launched to tackle malnutrition, TB, maternal mortality, and poor sanitation—issues still prevalent in many Global South regions.

India at BRICS 2025: A Pillar of Pragmatism and Vision

India emerged at the BRICS 2025 Rio Summit not just as a participant but as a strategic anchor of the bloc’s evolving purpose. With its balanced diplomacy, vast market, and growing technological prowess, India plays a unique role in bridging ideological divides, offering scalable development models, and advocating for the interests of the broader Global South.

Advocating Multilateral Reform, Not Rhetoric

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the summit was particularly assertive on the need for genuine reforms in global governance institutions. Unlike symbolic calls often seen in international summits, India presented a comprehensive, actionable proposal to restructure bodies like the UN Security Council, IMF, and WTO. The proposal emphasized:

• Expanding the UNSC to better reflect 21st-century geopolitical realities
• Creating fairer voting structures in financial institutions
• Ensuring tech access equity in WTO digital trade talks

India framed these reforms not as anti-West or disruptive, but as necessary corrections to empower developing nations to shape their own destinies.

Championing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for BRICS+

One of India’s major contributions to the summit was its advocacy of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a soft power model for the BRICS+ framework. India shared its successful experience with:

• UPI (Unified Payments Interface): Now handling over 10 billion monthly transactions
• Aadhaar (Digital Identity Platform): Providing identity to over 1.3 billion citizens
• Digi Locker & Co-WIN: Used for credential storage and COVID vaccination

India proposed the open-sourcing of its DPI stack to BRICS and partner countries, allowing them to customize and adopt these models. This was seen as a direct counterbalance to the dominance of private Western fintech monopolies and a step toward digital sovereignty.

Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Nigeria have reportedly shown interest in piloting these systems under India’s guidance, possibly setting the stage for a South-South digital revolution.

Tech Ethics & Innovation as a BRICS Priority

India also co-led, alongside South Africa, the drafting of the BRICS Statement on Global AI Governance. Here, India emphasized:

• Transparency in AI algorithms
• Open-source AI access for developing countries
• Avoiding the monopolization of AI by a few nations or tech giants
• Protecting user privacy and data ownership

India’s vision clearly stood out as inclusive, ethical, and innovation-driven, with a strong tilt toward people-centric technology rather than surveillance capitalism.

Focus on Climate-Resilient Development

India reinforced its commitment to climate action, not just in rhetoric but through concrete initiatives:

• Support for the BRICS Climate Finance Framework
• Promotion of International Solar Alliance (ISA) synergies with BRICS+ nations
• A proposal to set up a BRICS Green Tech Innovation Fund, focused on solar, wind, battery storage, and water harvesting technologies

India also offered to host a BRICS Centre for Disaster Risk Resilience and Climate Adaptation in Delhi, as a hub for data sharing, research, and early warning systems.

Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Realignment

In a subtle but important intervention, PM Modi highlighted the need for secure, diversified, and transparent supply chains for critical minerals—used in semiconductors, EVs, solar panels, and batteries. With China controlling a significant portion of global processing for these minerals, India stressed:

• The urgency of forming alternative BRICS value chains
• Leveraging partnerships with Africa (e.g., Zimbabwe, South Africa) and Latin America (e.g., Bolivia) to access resources
• Using the BRICS+ framework to share extraction technologies and reduce dependency on geopolitical chokepoints

India’s remarks hinted at strategic autonomy, signaling a proactive effort to prevent the weaponization of resources and technology.

India’s Presidency in 2026: A Vision for the Future

In a powerful closing note, PM Modi announced India’s agenda for the upcoming BRICS Summit 2026, which it will host under the theme:

“Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability.”

The vision focuses on:

• Strengthening local manufacturing and MSMEs
• Promoting climate-smart agriculture
• Enhancing youth, women, and disabled empowerment
• Boosting cross-BRICS education and language partnerships

India also proposed launching a “BRICS Innovation Challenge Fund” to promote clean tech, AI for rural services, and digital governance pilots in BRICS+ countries, especially low-income ones.

Economic Focus: Towards Independence and Integration

💳 BRICS Pay

While still in trial stages, BRICS Pay aims to create a system of inter-bank settlements in local currencies. It could eventually reduce dollar dependence for cross-border trade.

📉 De-Dollarization Debate

Though symbolic progress is visible, practical de-dollarization faces hurdles:

• Many trade contracts and commodities are still priced in USD.
• Even the NDB has paused some transactions to avoid dollar exposure due to sanctions (e.g., post-Ukraine).

Still, efforts like local currency lending, bilateral swaps, and currency pooling mechanisms mark important structural shifts.

Challenges: Unity Amidst Diversity

BRICS’ potential is enormous—but it also faces serious constraints.

❗ Diverging Interests:

• China and India have border disputes.
• Brazil’s foreign policy remains more West-aligned than others.
• Russia’s geopolitical isolation challenges its integration.

❗ Institutional Gaps:

• Lack of permanent structures delays follow-up on commitments.
• The NDB and CRA remain limited in scale, unable to match Western institutions yet.

❗ External Pushback:

• The West remains skeptical. Recent U.S. tariff threats on BRICS+ imports reflect growing geopolitical tension.
• Critics argue that it lacks internal cohesion and suffers from symbolism without scale.

Why BRICS Still Matters ?

Despite the challenges, BRICS provides the only major platform where the Global South sets the agenda. In a world facing:

• Climate catastrophe,
• Economic inequality,
• Technological monopolies,
• Unreliable supply chains, and
• Democratic backsliding,

It brings together countries that are both vulnerable and capable—bridging continents and ideologies in pursuit of shared, sovereign, and sustainable futures.

Case Study: Powering Progress — How BRICS Funding Transformed Solar Energy in South Africa

One of the most tangible examples of BRICS’ influence on the ground is found in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, where the New Development Bank (NDB) funded the Xina Solar One project. Approved in 2016 and backed by NDB investment, this large-scale concentrated solar power plant has become a model of climate-conscious development aligned with both local needs and global climate goals.

The project received over $180 million in funding from the NDB and now produces 100 MW of clean electricity, supplying power to nearly 100,000 households annually. Crucially, it includes thermal energy storage, enabling power delivery during evening peak hours—a feature especially important in a country battling load-shedding and energy inequality.

Beyond energy, the project generated over 1,000 jobs during construction and created long-term opportunities for local small enterprises, aligning with BRICS’ broader vision of inclusive development. Its success has inspired similar initiatives across other member nations, including India’s solar parks and Brazil’s bioenergy cooperatives.

This case exemplifies how BRICS isn’t just a diplomatic platform—it’s a driver of real-world change, connecting sustainability with empowerment and making climate finance more accessible to the Global South.

Conclusion: A Beacon in a Multipolar World

The BRICS 2025 Summit was not just about speeches or declarations—it was about rethinking the architecture of global cooperation. With new members, bold ideas, and the political will to lead, It is asserting itself as a practical alternative to outdated international structures.

In a world searching for balance between technology and tradition, economy and ecology, West and Rest—BRICS provides a different narrative. Not of dominance, but of partnership. Not of exclusion, but of equity.

As India prepares to host the next summit in 2026, the focus will be on resilience and innovation—two pillars that may well define the next decade of global leadership.

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References

BRICS: history, working, members, importance & more | UPSC Notes. (n.d.). Testbook. https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/brics

vajiramandravi. (2025a, May 25). BRICS, countries, members, summit, headquaters, UPSC notes. Vajiram and Ravi. https://vajiramandravi.com/upsc-exam/brics/

vajiramandravi. (2025b, July 8). BRICS Summit 2025 – Advancing Global South Cooperation for Inclusive and Sustainable Governance. User’s Blog. https://vajiramandravi.com/current-affairs/brics-summit-2025-advancing-global-south-cooperation-for-inclusive-and-sustainable-governance/

Image Credit (1) : “BRICS Summit 2025 leaders in Rio de Janeiro” by Prime Minister’s Office (GODL-India), licensed under GODL-India. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Image Credit (2) : By Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about BRICS summit