Modi urges BRICS to cut trade barriers, boost business ties

New Delhi, Sep 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on BRICS countries to convert the grouping’s growing economic weight into greater investment, trade and business opportunities, while stressing the importance of freedom of navigation, secure sea lanes and the safety of seafarers.

Addressing the BRICS Business Forum in India, Modi urged the grouping to identify and remove its top 10 trade barriers, help 100 BRICS startups expand into other member markets every year and create 1,000 new business partnerships annually.

“We must review our progress on these three parameters every year,” he said, challenging the BRICS Business Council to focus on measurable outcomes rather than limiting itself to dialogue.

Modi said global trade could progress only if sea lanes remained secure, supply routes open and seafarers safe. “Therefore, India is a staunch supporter of freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers,” he said.

His remarks came amid conflicts and geopolitical tensions disrupting energy flows and trade through vital sea routes, affecting prices and global supply chains.

Highlighting the growing economic weight of BRICS, Modi said its members and partner countries now account for around half of the world’s population, 40 per cent of global GDP and more than a quarter of global trade. Over the past two decades, he said, the combined GDP of BRICS economies had expanded around four-and-a-half times, compared with a roughly two-and-a-half-fold increase in global GDP.

Modi said India was seeking to make its BRICS chairship focused not only on the bloc’s economic potential but also on translating that strength into trade, investment, technology and business activity.

“At a time when trade barriers are rising globally, India is building economic bridges,” he said, noting that India had entered into free-trade agreements with nearly 40 countries since 2014.

“Our approach within BRICS is the same: to reduce barriers and expand opportunities for businesses,” he said.

The Prime Minister highlighted India’s expanding infrastructure, including roads, railways, ports and airports, as well as its growing capabilities in strategic sectors such as shipbuilding, semiconductors, quantum technology, critical minerals and biotechnology.

“Make in India, Innovate with India, and Scale for the World,” Modi said, presenting India as both a manufacturing base and a source of technology and innovation for global markets.

He also highlighted India’s startup ecosystem, saying the country now has more than 200,000 startups and over 120 unicorns. He said Indian startups were developing solutions in areas ranging from artificial intelligence, education and healthcare to green hydrogen, batteries, defence and space.

“Now, we must take these world-class innovations to global markets through BRICS as well,” he said.

Modi called for deeper digital cooperation among BRICS nations, pointing to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and its open digital ecosystem. He said around 50 per cent of the world’s real-time payments take place using UPI and noted that several countries were adopting the Indian digital payments ecosystem.

“Innovators from BRICS nations can also leverage this experience to create new solutions for their own countries,” he said.

Among the initiatives under India’s BRICS chairship are the BRICS incubator network, BRICS MSME portal and BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, along with cooperation networks in agriculture, healthcare, skills and smart grids.

On supply-chain resilience, Modi said India had diversified and strengthened its supply chains across sectors ranging from energy to technology.

“It is a result of this very resilience that, even amidst global uncertainties, India today offers an assurance of growth and stability,” he said.

Modi said the proposed targets for reducing trade barriers, expanding startups and creating business partnerships would help BRICS move from broad cooperation towards tangible economic outcomes.