Image Credit: PMO via PTI
Context
Amid intensifying great-power rivalries, particularly between the United States and the China-Russia axis, India’s membership in BRICS remains a cornerstone of its foreign policy. The grouping provides New Delhi with an institutional instrument to exercise strategic autonomy, to defy the institutional dominance of the West and to assert itself as the leader of the Global South, without forming a formal bloc with one or another superpower.
The Evolution and Structure of BRICS
From Economic Club to Geopolitical Reality
- Originally conceived as an economic acronym by Goldman Sachs, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has evolved into a formidable geopolitical entity. With its recent expansion (BRICS+), the bloc now represents a significant share of global GDP, population, and energy resources.
Built-in Institutional Flexibility
Unlike traditional alliance blocs like NATO or the G7, BRICS is characterized by:
- Non-binding Cooperation: It is a non-binding cooperation without a rigid, legally binding treaty structure.
- Consensus-based Decision Making: Decisions require unanimity, granting India veto power over initiatives that could harm its national interests.
- Issue-based Coalitions: Member states can be deep on their differences on security issues, but close on their economic ones.
How BRICS Enables India’s Strategic Autonomy
1. Counter-Balancing the West and China: BRICS provides India with a vital geopolitical hedge:
- The Western Pivot: India can strengthen its security cooperation with the US (Quad) but still be part of the BRICS table and not a client state of the West.
- The China Check: By actively participating, India prevents BRICS from turning into a purely anti-Western, China-centric tool.
2. Championing Plausible Multilateralism: India uses BRICS to advocate for “reformed multilateralism.” The platform provides New Delhi with an opportunity to attack the structural inertia of Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank) and the UN Security Council, asking for a greater voice of the developing economies.
3. Leadership of the Global South: BRICS serves as a voice that amplifies India’s voice for the developing world. The bloc takes India’s influence and jurisdictions to Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, and is instrumental in pushing agendas on food security, climate finance and affordable technology transfer.
Key Economic and Strategic Pillars
- Financial Autonomy and the NDB: The New Development Bank (NDB) is now an alternative source of funds to finance infrastructure development without the structural adjustment conditionality which have been a feature of western lenders.
- De-dollarisation and Local Currency Trade: India does not want a single BRICS currency (which may be yuan-dominated), but the use of local currencies for cross-border trade settlements is a strong preference. This protects India’s economy from any unilaterally imposed sanctions and also helps in minimizing the usage of the US dollar.
Strategic Challenges for India
- The China Factor: China’s influence is diminishing in the group as it becomes economically powerful and aggressively seeks to expand quickly.
- Anti-Western Narrative: Russia and China often try to push BRICS into a distinctly anti-Western policy, but India follows a policy of multi-alignment.
- Bilateral Frictions: Persistent border tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) complicate deep strategic alignment with Beijing within the multilateral forum.
Way Forward
BRICS is not intended to create an alternative global order for India, but it is a movement towards reforming the current global order to be more balanced. India’s tightrope walk, in which it is trying to play it safe by using BRICS to defend its continental and economic interests, needs to be continued with the participation of the Quad format to safeguard its maritime and technological future. The introduction of multilateralism in BRICS is feasible for India only as it enables New Delhi to deal with the rivals and at the same time ensure the growth path of its own progress.
Source: The Hindu
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