Industry experts and economists attending the BRICS Summit on 12 September 2025 in New Delhi said the grouping presents a transformative opportunity for member nations to deepen economic cooperation, accelerate technological innovation — particularly in artificial intelligence — and build an integrated cross-border financial architecture. Discussions spanned India-Russia trade complementarities, the global pivot to agentic AI, and the proposed BRICS Pay framework for seamless multi-currency transactions.

India-Russia Ties and Trade Complementarities

Economist Rajiv Sahoo said India and Russia possess complementary economic strengths that are well-suited for deeper bilateral engagement within the BRICS framework. He noted that India holds competitive advantages in food products, petroleum refining, and services, while Russia brings significant capabilities in defence, technology, and strategic industries.

Sahoo further argued that India, Russia, and China — three of BRICS' largest economies — could collectively contribute to a more diversified global trade framework, reducing dependence on any single trade corridor. He also described Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India as a positive development that could help address long-standing bilateral issues and improve relations between the two neighbours.

Artificial Intelligence as a BRICS Priority

Artificial intelligence emerged as a defining theme of this year's summit. Egyptian AI expert Ahmed Gamal described BRICS as an important platform for promoting technological cooperation among developing economies and characterised India as a rapidly emerging global AI hub.

Gamal said the scope for AI collaboration between India and Egypt is significant, and that sustained dialogue among BRICS members could lay the groundwork for joint research projects, innovation partnerships, and knowledge-sharing programmes. He also signalled a broader global shift: the world economy, he said, is moving beyond generative AI towards agentic AI — systems capable of autonomous decision-making — which has the potential to transform workplaces and improve productivity across sectors if effectively adopted by governments and industries.

Industry Perspective: What BRICS Must Deliver

ASSOCHAM President Nirmal K Minda welcomed India's leadership in advancing what he called a pragmatic and future-ready BRICS agenda. He described the summit as 'a significant step towards building a more inclusive, resilient and growth-oriented global economic architecture.'

From industry's standpoint, Minda said the summit's emphasis on 'expanding trade and investment, strengthening supply chains, promoting local-currency settlements, digital transformation, AI, energy security and sustainable development is particularly encouraging.' The statement reflects Indian industry's expectation that BRICS translate headline commitments into actionable bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

BRICS Pay and the Cross-Border Payments Opportunity

BRICS Business Council head Andrey Mikhaylishin outlined the proposed BRICS Pay framework, which aims to connect the national payment systems of member countries. He described the initiative as a bridge between domestic payment networks, enabling travellers and businesses to conduct cross-border transactions more seamlessly — reducing reliance on the US dollar-dominated SWIFT infrastructure.

BRICS Pay India head Pawan Josh highlighted the long-standing trust between India and Russia, particularly in the defence sector, and said Moscow could play a meaningful role in supporting India's Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat missions. Josh also pointed to India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a model of how locally adapted payment technology can evolve into a globally recognised digital payments standard — a blueprint, he suggested, that BRICS Pay could follow.

What Comes Next

With the BRICS grouping now encompassing a broader coalition of emerging economies, the pressure to convert summit rhetoric into binding cooperation agreements is higher than ever. Whether on AI governance, local-currency trade settlement, or cross-border digital payments, the architecture being discussed in New Delhi could reshape how the Global South engages with global trade and technology in the years ahead.