India’s Diplomatic Litmus Test at BRICS: Strategic Balancing in an Evolving World Order…

By: Col. (Dr.) Dev Anand Lohamoror
International Relations & Security Expert
The 18th BRICS Summit, taking place in New Delhi on September 12–13, convenes at a critical juncture—against the backdrop of escalating Russia–West friction, US–Iran tensions, volatility across West Asia, disruptions along vital maritime choke points, and intensifying debate over alternatives to the US dollar-centric financial architecture. Today, the expanded BRICS+ represents approximately 49.5% of the world’s population, roughly 40% of global GDP, and nearly 26% of global trade. Consequently, the Delhi summit is far more than routine multilateral pageantry; it serves as a consequential theater reflecting a tectonic shift in the international system.
Yet, the grouping’s greatest dilemma lies not in its expanding geographic footprint, but in the divergent strategic interests of its members. Russia, China, India, and Iran will share the high table alongside Saudi Arabia and the UAE, even as India and China remain entrenched in strategic rivalry and deep-seated fractures persist between Iran and Gulf monarchies. India faces the delicate challenge of preventing BRICS from coalescing into a stridently anti-Western front, while simultaneously positioning it as a credible, constructive voice for the Global South. New Delhi’s foundational foreign policy doctrine remains clear: non-Western, not anti-Western.

Indo-Russian defense and strategic convergence will remain front and center. Under the $5.43 billion contract signed in 2018 for five S-400 Triumf air defense regiments, four have been inducted, with the fifth and final unit slated for delivery by late 2026. Beyond the S-400, which anchors India’s multi-layered air defense grid, bilateral discussions may explore potential technology transfers and domestic manufacturing under the fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter program, alongside modernization of BrahMos and the development of BrahMos-NG. While Russia has floated the S-500 air and missile defense system in informal discussions, its adoption hinges on Indian strategic evaluation regarding cost viability, operational utility, and seamless interoperability with indigenous architectures. The overarching imperative for Indo-Russian defense ties is transitioning from direct off-the-shelf procurement toward genuine co-development, joint production, and comprehensive technology transfer.
Space cooperation represents another expanding dimension of the partnership. Prospects are widening across human spaceflight initiatives, satellite networks, navigation frameworks, and Earth-observation data sharing. Building on engagements hosted during India’s chairmanship—including the BRICS Space Agencies conclave in Bengaluru—practical collaboration on the Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation, climate modeling, disaster mitigation, and space situational awareness is gathering momentum. Following the Chandrayaan-3 lunar south pole landing, pairing India’s demonstrated frugal engineering with Russian deep-space heritage could lend substantial impetus to future lunar and interplanetary missions.
Diplomatically, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India—marking his first in seven years following the 2019 Chennai Informal Summit—stands as a pivotal bilateral engagement on the sidelines. Disengagement protocols along the Line of Actual Control, mounting trade imbalances, market access barriers, and broader regional stability in West Asia will likely frame the bilateral dialogue. Despite sustained border friction, New Delhi recognizes Beijing as a formidable strategic competitor while keeping diplomatic channels open—an embodiment of strategic autonomy that decouples competitive deterrence from outright dialogue breakdown.
On the financial front, the debate over de-dollarization continues to gain traction, though India’s trajectory differs fundamentally from Beijing’s and Moscow’s revisionist agendas. Rather than advocating a volatile single BRICS currency, India prioritizes settlement mechanisms in national currencies, digital payment linkages, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) interoperability. The objective is not dismantling the dollar-led financial order, but mitigating cross-border transaction frictions and lowering currency conversion costs. In this domain, India acts as an essential moderating force—endorsing financial resilience and alternative rails without signing up for an ideological campaign against Western currencies.
West Asia presents perhaps the most delicate diplomatic chessboard of the summit. Bringing Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE together under one institutional umbrella highlights profound geopolitical complexities. Maritime security in the southern Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait remains critically vulnerable to attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeting commercial shipping lanes, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue navigating divergent operational priorities across Yemen. For India, this goes well beyond regional diplomacy: supply chain disruptions and surging freight tariffs directly jeopardize energy security and trade flows with Europe. India must craft a nuanced West Asian consensus capable of accommodating Tehran, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi without alienating any partner.
Washington’s scrutiny of BRICS stems precisely from this collective weight. When a bloc representing nearly half the globe’s populace and two-fifths of global output systematically explores local-currency settlements and alternative clearing mechanisms, the absolute dominance of the US dollar naturally faces gradual dilution. Yet framing this as the imminent demise of the dollar is an overstatement. BRICS draws its strength from its diversity, which simultaneously exposes internal fault lines: while Moscow and Beijing pursue accelerated systemic disruption, New Delhi champions equilibrium over confrontation.
The ultimate benchmark of the Delhi summit will not be sweeping communiqués, but the efficacy of India’s strategic balancing. Can Modi and Putin institutionalize defense co-production and space exploration? Can Modi and Xi recalibrate frayed bilateral relations onto a more predictable track? Can New Delhi facilitate a cohesive dialogue among West Asian heavyweights? And can India safeguard BRICS as a pragmatic instrument for the Global South rather than an adversarial geopolitical bloc?
In New Delhi, contrasting poles of a multipolar world converge under one roof. India continues to deepen defense ties with Russia, preserve operational deterrence alongside diplomatic dialogue with China, maintain multifaceted partnerships across the Gulf and Iran, while simultaneously consolidating its comprehensive strategic partnership with the United States and the wider West. This ability to avoid alignment with any single bloc, while securing vital national interests across all major power centers, remains the definitive hallmark of Indian statecraft.