India reaffirmed its commitment to advancing digital cooperation and next-generation network technologies at the 7th BRICS ICT Working Group Meeting in Pune on 18 August, with the three-day gathering convened under New Delhi's BRICS Chairship theme: 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. The meeting marks a key milestone in India's stewardship of the ICT track this year.

India's ICT Track Agenda

Amit Agrawal, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications, outlined the four pillars of India's ICT track theme — 'Innovate, Cooperate and Transform (ICT) for a Resilient Future' — at the opening session. Agrawal described the inauguration as the beginning of an important week of engagement, stressing that it represents the continuation of a collaborative process that has been underway for several months.

'Since the commencement of India's Chairship of the BRICS ICT Track earlier this year, we have worked closely together through successive Working Group meetings, thematic webinars, discussions on concept notes and regular exchanges among experts and officials,' Agrawal said. 'These engagements have enabled us to share experiences, build a common understanding of our priorities and collectively shape the agenda before us today.'

Key Discussions and Study Groups

Notably, the Council of the BRICS Institute of Future Networks reviewed the activities of designated national branches during the Pune meeting. Updates were received from Study Groups covering artificial intelligence, next-generation communications, internet applications in Industry 4.0, and electromagnetic field exposure — areas that reflect the bloc's ambition to coordinate on frontier technologies.

The Working Group also took up the 'Issues Note' priorities set out by the Chairship, alongside questions for discussion under each pillar and a compilation of member-country responses to the Survey Questionnaire, according to an official statement.

What Comes Next

Subsequent sessions are scheduled to focus on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the Meeting of the Digital BRICS Task Force — two areas where India has positioned itself as a model for other emerging economies, given the scale of its own DPI stack including UPI, Aadhaar, and DigiLocker. This comes amid broader global competition to set standards for digital governance and AI regulation, making the BRICS ICT platform increasingly consequential.

The outcome of the Pune deliberations is expected to feed into the broader BRICS summit agenda, with member nations seeking to align on interoperability frameworks and digital resilience standards.