Examine how sector-specific ministerial tracks (Industry, Trade, Energy, Health) contribute to institutionalizing BRICS cooperation beyond the annual Summit.

BRICS lacks a treaty charter or permanent secretariat; its continuity rests instead on sectoral ministerial tracks that convert Summit-level political intent into working machinery. India's 2026 Chairship — its fourth, themed "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" — illustrates how these tracks deepen institutionalization year-round.

Creating permanent working machinery

• Tracks spawn standing working groups with Terms of Reference and Action Plans, which outlive any one Chairship. The Tenth Industry Ministers' Meeting (Jaipur, 6 August 2026) adopted the ToR and Action Plan of the BRICS Working Group on the Photovoltaic Industry and advanced the SME Working Group Framework on Cooperation [1].
• The Health track produced the BRICS Roadmap for Joint Initiative on Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (2026–2029) and a Network of Centres of Excellence on Mental Wellness — multi-year commitments, not one-off statements [2].

Sustaining continuity across Chairships

• Numbering itself signals institutional memory: the 9th Industry Ministers' Meeting at Brasília under Brazil's chairship handed the agenda to Jaipur's 10th [3].
• Preparatory layers — Contact Groups, Senior Officials' and standardization-body meetings — keep the calendar continuously active between Summits [1][2].

Densifying and diversifying the agenda

• Tracks let BRICS act on technical domains a leaders' Summit cannot absorb: photovoltaic manufacturing supply chains, MSMEs, logistics, and energy governance at the 11th Energy Ministers' Meeting, Gurugram [4].
• India used the Industry track to propose a BRICS Incubator Network and Startup Innovation Fund — Chair-driven ideas entering a durable pipeline [1].

Limitations

• Outputs remain non-binding Joint Declarations without dispute settlement or dedicated funding, so implementation depends on national follow-through.
• Clustering of the Industry (6 August) and Trade (7 August) meetings in Jaipur shows efficiency, but overlapping mandates risk duplication [1][5].

Sectoral tracks thus function as BRICS' de facto secretariat-in-motion, incrementally converting a summit forum into a working institution. Strengthening them requires review mechanisms, published implementation milestones, and secretariat support to translate declarations into outcomes — advancing the resilient, plural South-South cooperation India's Chairship theme envisages.