India’s BRICS Presidency Gains Weight Amid Global Geopolitical Turbulence

Several geopolitical developments in recent weeks have overshadowed an important event - India taking over the BRICS Presidency on January 1, 2026. India also released the BRICS logo, theme and website on January 13, 2026.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar while releasing the BRICS logo made some important points. First, he spoke about the relevance of India's Chairmanship theme - 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. He said that the theme reiterated India's belief that cooperation, between BRICS members, was imperative for addressing global challenges. He also said:

'..The theme underscores the importance of strengthening capacities, promoting innovation, and ensuring sustainable development for the benefit of all'.

Second, he flagged the unpredictability of the current world order and the importance of BRICS in the current situation. Given the current situation in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, growing rift between US and its allies and partners and turbulence and unpredictability in different parts of the world this point made by External Affairs Minister is important.

Possible cooperation between G7 and BRICS

The speeches at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos, not just by US President, Donald Trump but also by Canadian PM, Mark Carney and French President, Immanuel Macron drew attention because of their reference to the growing global uncertainty. While Trump highlighted how the earlier world order had not benefitted the US, both Carney and Macron spoke about how countries needed to adapt to the new global situation.

France holds the rotating presidency of G7 and Macron pitched for greater cooperation between G7 and BRICS nations. India and France have strengthened bilateral ties and are also part of an India, France, UAE trilateral which seeks to strengthen cooperation in areas like energy, technology and defence.

India's Presidency of BRICS: Opportunities and Challenges

India clearly has its task cut out during its BRICS Presidency. First, the geopolitical situation is likely to remain uncertain and complex and BRICS as an organisation would need to have a collective response. In this context, India would need to reconcile the geopolitical differences between members of the grouping.

India's push for trade in local currencies and BRICS

Second. India while distancing itself from the BRICS common currency has been pitching for trade in local currencies. India's Rupee-Rouble trade with Russia is estimated at over 90%.

This point was made by Russian President, Vladimir Putin in during his visit to India in a media interview. In November 2024, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev had said:

'Share of local and alternative currencies keeps growing in bilateral trade. It is now approaching 90%. We deem it necessary to continue our work on expanding correspondent relations between Russian and Indian banks'.

Similarly, India has signed agreements with several other countries including UAE for trade in local currencies. In 2023, During PM Modi's UAE visit, the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the UAE signed a Memorandum of Understanding for creating a Local Currency Settlement System (LCSS) for trade in INR and AED and to explore interoperability of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) - RBI (India) and CBUAE (UAE).

BRICS has also been working towards coming up with a common payment mechanism The existing national payment systems like China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) and UnionPay network, India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Russia's System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), and Brazil's Pix system are expected to play a pivotal role in integrating financial transactions across BRICS nations.

PM Modi during the 2024 BRICS Summit at Kazan (Russia) urged other BRICS nations to adopt UPI. PM Modi himself has batted for other BRICS countries adopting the UPI.

Apart from this, India's Central Bank -- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) -- has recommended that India push for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) of the BRICS countries to be connected. This is an important recommendation and would reduce dependence upon the SWIFT network.

India, along with other BRICS members, will push for ways to reduce dependence upon the US Dollar, though New Delhi is likely to reiterate the point, as it has in the past that it does not seek to undermine the US Dollar.

In conclusion, as mentioned earlier India has an opportunity to articulate important issues of the Global South and give a push to trade in local currencies, but this is likely to be an onerous task in an increasingly complex global situation. New Delhi will need to do so in a deft manner.

Tridivesh Singh Maini is an Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA), where he has been teaching since August 2014. His research interests include - India's ties with its extended neighbourhood (with a focus on Gulf and Iran), South Asia's geopolitics, the role of India's states in the country's external relations, The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and BRICS.