{"id":4232,"date":"2026-10-10T06:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T06:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/?p=4232"},"modified":"2026-10-11T06:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T06:38:23","slug":"brics-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/brics-2\/","title":{"rendered":"BRICS"},"content":{"rendered":"<table style=\"font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<blockquote><p><b>SYLLABUS: International relations<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>General Studies \u2013 :\u00a0 II <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Important International institutions, agencies and fora &#8211; their structure, mandate.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>IN NEWS:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> BRICS in a fragmented world order, a test of relevance<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>QUESTION: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examine the implications of China\u2019s growing economic and political dominance within BRICS for India\u2019s strategic interests.(250 words)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>ANSWER: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, alongside expanded members) was established to promote a multipolar world order and represent the collective interests of the Global South. However, China\u2019s massive economic weight\u2014accounting for over 60% of the bloc\u2019s combined GDP\u2014along with its diplomatic clout, has increasingly shifted BRICS toward a Beijing-centric vehicle. For India, which seeks a multipolar world without a unipolar Asia, China\u2019s growing hegemony within the grouping poses significant strategic, diplomatic, and economic challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Strategic Implications for India<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Geopolitical Alignment and Ideological Divergence<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Anti-Western vs. Non-Western Orientation:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India envisions BRICS as a &#8220;non-Western&#8221; platform aimed at reforming global governance structures (such as the UN, IMF, and World Bank). Conversely, China, often backed by Russia, seeks to transform BRICS into an &#8220;anti-Western&#8221; geopolitical coalition to counter the US-led international order.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Dilution of Strategic Autonomy:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> An aggressively anti-Western stance by BRICS undermines India\u2019s foreign policy of multi-alignment, complicating its strategic partnerships with Western groupings like the Quad and I2U2.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Global South Leadership and Agenda Setting<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Contest for Leadership:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India positions itself as a democratic, consensus-driven voice of the Global South. China leverages its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and vast capital to bring newly admitted and prospective BRICS members into its sphere of influence, threatening to marginalize India\u2019s leadership role.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Membership Expansion Dynamics:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> China has actively pushed for rapid BRICS expansion to institutionalize its influence. For India, an influx of Beijing-leaning or heavily indebted states risks turning the bloc into an echo chamber for Chinese foreign policy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Economic and Institutional Asymmetry<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Financial Dominance in NDB:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Within the New Development Bank (NDB), China\u2019s financial leverage gives it disproportionate influence over project choices, funding standards, and lending priorities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>De-Dollarization and Currency Friction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> While India supports trade settlement in national currencies to reduce transaction costs, Beijing pushes for the broader internationalization of the Chinese Yuan (RMB) or a Yuan-backed trade basket, which could deepen regional financial dependency on Beijing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Trade Disparity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India already faces a massive trade deficit with China ($99.2 billion in 2024\u201325). China\u2019s dominance within BRICS limits India&#8217;s capacity to negotiate preferential trade terms that protect domestic manufacturing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Way Forward<\/b><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Enforcing Criteria-Based Expansion:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India must continue to advocate for strict, transparent, and consensus-based criteria for future member and partner admissions to prevent the group from becoming a unilateral anti-West coalition.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Promoting Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India can counter Chinese capital-heavy infrastructure (BRI) by offering scalable, low-cost Digital Public Infrastructure (such as UPI and open-source tech stacks) to fellow BRICS members, highlighting an alternative model of development.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Strengthening Bilateral Partnerships Within BRICS:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Deepening bilateral ties with non-aligned members like Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, and Indonesia helps build internal consensus coalitions to balance Chinese dominance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Preserving Multi-Alignment:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India must maintain clear boundaries, ensuring its participation in BRICS supports global institutional reform without compromising its security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific or its strategic autonomy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China\u2019s growing economic and political dominance presents a paradox for India: BRICS offers a vital platform to push for global governance reform, yet risks being weaponized as a tool for Beijing&#8217;s hegemony. India\u2019s strategic interest lies in preventing BRICS from devolving into an anti-Western bloc. By leveraging democratic credentials, digital leadership, and multi-alignment, India can remain a key balancing force, ensuring BRICS serves an equitable, multipolar world order.<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<blockquote><p><b>PYQ REFERENCE UPSC 2026<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.&#8221; Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings. (10 Marks \/ 150 Words)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>SOURCE: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_international\/issues\/208317\/OPS\/GFRGK0TJJ.1+GQIGL31KD.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu epaper &#8211; BRICS in a fragmented world order, a test of relevance<\/a><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYLLABUS: International relations General Studies \u2013 :\u00a0 II Important International institutions, agencies and fora &#8211; their structure, mandate. IN NEWS: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,73,68,25,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daws","category-brics","category-daily-current-affairs","category-gs-2","category-international-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4232"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4235,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232\/revisions\/4235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}