Examine the challenges India faces in forging consensus within multilateral groupings marked by intra-member rivalries, citing recent examples.

India sits simultaneously inside groupings whose members are often rivals — of each other and of India. Since these bodies decide by consensus, not majority, every joint declaration becomes a test of diplomacy, as the 26th SCO Summit at Bishkek and India's BRICS chairship in 2026 illustrate [1][3].

Structural challenge: the consensus rule

• SCO and BRICS adopt declarations by unanimity; a single dissenting member can dilute or block language, making outcome documents lowest-common-denominator texts.
• India's 2017 accession to the SCO alongside Pakistan effectively imported a bilateral dispute into a regional forum.

Intra-member rivalries in practice

• Terrorism: with Pakistan taking the SCO chair after Bishkek, the Prime Minister used his summit address to press for dismantling the ecosystem of terror financing — a demand repeatedly diluted in consensus texts [2].
• China factor: India has consistently declined to endorse Belt and Road connectivity language in SCO documents, citing sovereignty concerns.
• West Asia: the ongoing conflict involving Iran, an SCO member, divides states with close Israeli, Gulf and Iranian ties, complicating a common text for the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi [3].

Competing external pressures

• As chair, India must protect its ties with the West while sharing the table with Russia, China and Iran, requiring calibrated wording on sanctions, trade and currency questions.
• Larger economies risk steering the agenda away from development priorities of the Global South.

India's balancing response

• Shifting weight to functional, working-group cooperation — health, MSMEs, intellectual property — under the chairship theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", where agreement is easier [4].
• Reinforcing bilateral outreach to Central Asian republics on trade, connectivity and critical minerals to hedge against forum gridlock [1].

Consensus-building is thus less an obstacle than the core skill India's multi-alignment demands. By anchoring blocs in deliverable, issue-based agendas rather than contested political texts, India can convert rivalry-ridden platforms into instruments of strategic autonomy and Global South leadership.