With BRICS now at ten members, examine the opportunities and challenges for India in using its 2026 Chairship to shape the grouping's agenda.

India took over the BRICS Chairship on 1 January 2026, its fourth, under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" [1]. BRICS now has ten members. Chairing a larger and more diverse group gives India real power to set the agenda, but it also tests India's ability to build consensus.

Opportunities

• Setting the agenda on both tracks: India hosted the 18th Summit in New Delhi on 12–13 September, which adopted the New Delhi Declaration [1][2]. It also hosted the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum at Samvidhan Sadan on 26–27 October [3], where the PM met MPs from member countries [4].
• Economic priorities: The Jaipur Trade Ministers' Meeting agreed to study a BRICS Invoice Discounting Mechanism for MSMEs. It also adopted a Global Value Chains Action Plan 2026–2030 and reaffirmed a WTO-centred trading system [5].
• Leading in specific sectors: The Gurugram Energy Ministers' Meeting launched a Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage [6].
• Counter-terrorism: At Brasília (2025), the parliaments of all ten members condemned the Pahalgam attack and backed zero tolerance for terrorism [7]. India now chairs the Forum and can build on that text.
• Voice of the Global South: India can present BRICS as a platform for reformed multilateralism, not as a bloc against the West.

Challenges

• Agreement among ten members: Decisions need everyone's consent, so any member can block wording. Texts tend to settle at the lowest common denominator [7].
• The China factor: India's strategic rivalry with China, and pressure for an anti-Western tilt, strain India's multi-alignment with partners such as the Quad.
• Alternative payment systems: Proposals to reduce reliance on the dollar could unsettle India's economic ties with the West.
• Order of meetings: The Forum met about six weeks after the Summit [2][3]. MPs could only respond to decisions already taken.
• Accountability gap: Under Articles 73 and 253, the executive signs agreements without Parliament's approval. Non-binding declarations therefore rarely come before the House.

India's Chairship turns its convening power into concrete deliverables, but a larger BRICS makes consensus harder. India should form issue-based coalitions, check members' progress on the 2025 anti-terror commitments, hold the Forum before future Summits, and place outcomes before Parliament. This would make BRICS a vehicle for the partnerships envisaged in SDG 17, in keeping with India's ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.