BRICS Summit in Delhi: Xi and Putin Arrive as India Hosts a Crucial Test of the Global South

The most important developments to watch are the Modi-Xi meeting, Modi-Putin talks, the Ukraine and Iran conflicts, BRICS’ push for local-currency trade and payment mechanisms, supply-chain cooperation, and whether the expanded bloc can produce a unified position despite major internal differences.

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New Delhi is preparing to become the centre of global diplomacy as leaders of the expanded BRICS grouping gather in India for the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host leaders from the 11-member bloc at a moment when the international system is facing multiple crises — from the war in Ukraine and the conflict involving Iran to trade tensions, sanctions and growing rivalry between the United States and China.

The summit will also bring two of the world’s most closely watched leaders to India. Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in New Delhi, marking his first visit to India since 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also arrived, making the trip particularly significant because it is his first visit outside Russia since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. Their presence puts India at the centre of a complicated diplomatic balancing act.

Xi Jinping’s return to India

Xi’s arrival is one of the most important diplomatic developments surrounding the summit. The Chinese president’s last visit to India was in 2019, before the severe deterioration in bilateral relations following the 2020 Galwan Valley confrontation. Relations between New Delhi and Beijing have improved in recent years, however, with both sides taking steps to reduce tensions along the disputed Himalayan border.

That makes a potential Modi-Xi meeting one of the most closely watched events of the summit. Border stability is expected to remain an important issue, but economics will also matter. India and China have significant trade ties, while New Delhi has increasingly sought to balance security concerns with the economic advantages of greater engagement with its largest Asian neighbour. The summit therefore provides an opportunity for both governments to demonstrate that competition does not necessarily have to prevent dialogue.

Putin’s historic journey

Putin’s presence carries a different significance. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian president has dramatically reduced his international travel, with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant also complicating his ability to visit many countries.

His arrival in Delhi therefore represents a major diplomatic moment. For India, Putin’s visit reinforces the continuing importance of the India-Russia relationship despite New Delhi’s increasingly close strategic and economic engagement with the United States and Europe. The two countries are expected to discuss energy, defence cooperation, trade and emerging areas such as critical minerals and rare earths. But Putin’s presence will also inevitably bring the Ukraine war into discussions surrounding BRICS.

The Iran war and the challenge of unity

Perhaps the most difficult issue facing BRICS is the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Iran joined BRICS in 2024, expanding the organisation’s geopolitical significance but also introducing new divisions. The current conflict has created an especially difficult situation because BRICS members do not share a single position on the war. Russia and China have maintained close relations with Tehran, while other BRICS members have their own strategic relationships with the United States and regional powers.

The conflict has also disrupted energy markets and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Oil prices have risen above $100 a barrel amid the disruption. India will therefore face a delicate task: pushing for a diplomatic response without turning BRICS into an explicitly anti-Western alliance.

Can BRICS reduce dependence on the dollar?

Another major issue will be the bloc’s long-running ambition to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar. BRICS countries have increasingly discussed conducting more trade in local currencies and developing alternative payment mechanisms. The objective is not simply financial. It is also geopolitical.

Western sanctions have demonstrated how powerful the dollar-based international financial system remains. Russia, in particular, has experienced extensive financial restrictions since its invasion of Ukraine. For countries seeking greater strategic autonomy, developing alternative payment systems could reduce vulnerability to sanctions.

However, creating a genuine alternative to the dollar will be difficult. BRICS members have very different financial systems, currencies and economic priorities. The Delhi summit could therefore produce further agreements on local-currency settlements and financial cooperation, but expectations of an immediate BRICS replacement for the dollar remain unrealistic.

Trade, supply chains and a changing global economy

Economic cooperation will remain at the heart of the summit. India’s BRICS presidency has placed emphasis on resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability, with proposals involving startups, logistics, supply chains and technology.

One proposal under discussion is a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, while another focuses on strengthening logistics and supply-chain cooperation between member countries. These initiatives reflect a broader concern among emerging economies: global supply chains have become increasingly vulnerable to wars, sanctions, tariffs and geopolitical confrontation. For India, this could also provide an opportunity to promote itself as a manufacturing and technology hub.

BRICS versus the Western order?

The bigger question surrounding the summit is whether BRICS is becoming a genuine alternative centre of global power. The expanded grouping now represents roughly half of the world’s population and around 40% of the global economy in purchasing-power terms. Its membership stretches across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

That gives BRICS considerable potential influence. But its greatest weakness is also its diversity. India has a close strategic relationship with the United States. China is America’s principal strategic competitor. Russia is confronting the West over Ukraine. Iran is in direct conflict with Washington and Israel. Gulf countries within the grouping have their own security relationships and regional rivalries. Expecting all of them to adopt a single geopolitical position is therefore extremely difficult.

India’s diplomatic balancing act

For Modi’s government, the summit represents an opportunity to demonstrate India’s growing diplomatic importance. New Delhi wants stronger relations with Russia, a more stable relationship with China and deeper strategic cooperation with the United States and its Western partners.

The presence of Xi and Putin allows India to demonstrate that it can maintain dialogue with competing powers without formally aligning itself with any one bloc. That is the essence of India’s increasingly prominent strategic-autonomy approach. The Delhi summit will therefore be judged not only by the agreements signed but by whether India can persuade countries with sharply different interests to find common ground.

A summit bigger than BRICS

The Delhi summit arrives at a moment when the world order is undergoing profound change. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the U.S.-China rivalry, sanctions, trade barriers and efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar are all challenging the institutions and assumptions that shaped the post-Cold War era.

With Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin now in New Delhi, India has an unusually powerful diplomatic stage. The question is whether BRICS can transform that symbolism into concrete cooperation.

For India, the answer could determine not only the success of this summit but also how effectively BRICS can position itself as a serious voice for the Global South in an increasingly fragmented world.