India's BRICS presidency in 2026 is shaping up as a pivotal diplomatic exercise, with New Delhi pushing a forward-looking agenda for the Global South even as geopolitical fault lines — particularly the US-Iran-Israel conflict — threaten to fracture consensus within the bloc. The assessment comes from Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat, writing in his book 'Saviours'.

Fractured Views at the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting

The BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, held in New Delhi against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in West Asia, exposed sharp divisions within the grouping — most notably between member states Iran and the UAE. According to Trigunayat, the lack of consensus at that meeting underscored the deeper challenges BRICS could face if regional hostilities do not de-escalate soon.

India, he noted, has consistently favoured 'dialogue, diplomacy, and de-escalation' as its preferred framework for managing regional tensions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar engaged extensively with counterparts across the region, partly to safeguard the interests of India's nearly 10-million-strong diaspora in West Asia.

India's Presidential Theme and Its Strategic Meaning

Trigunayat highlighted that Modi recast the BRICS acronym through the theme of India's presidency: 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. This framing, the former diplomat argued, signals the direction in which BRICS — as a non-Western platform in an increasingly fractured global order — is likely to evolve.

Crucially, India has maintained that 'non-Western' should not be equated with 'anti-Western' — a distinction New Delhi considers essential to preserving the grouping's non-adversarial character. Trigunayat noted that as major powers increasingly depart from established norms of international law and post-Second World War conventions, the search for alternative frameworks of global engagement has intensified, lending greater urgency to India's presidency.

The September BRICS Summit: Consensus at Risk

India is set to chair the BRICS Summit in September 2026. According to Trigunayat, the US-Iran-Israel conflict has cast uncertainty over the prospects of securing a consensus-driven outcome document — a standard deliverable for such summits. The divisions surfaced at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting are seen as an early indicator of the negotiating difficulty ahead.

Notably, this comes after India successfully navigated a similarly complex multilateral environment during its G20 presidency in 2023, when it managed to secure a consensus leaders' declaration despite deep divisions over the Russia-Ukraine war.

Broad BRICS Agenda Beyond the Conflict

Trigunayat stressed that BRICS extends well beyond the immediate geopolitical crisis. The grouping's agenda under India's presidency encompasses economic cooperation, counter-terrorism, climate action, trade, technology, connectivity, people-to-people exchanges, and sustainable development. Several practical, forward-looking initiatives are expected to emerge aimed at enhancing security, prosperity, and equitable development across the Global South.

EAM Jaishankar reinforced this commitment, stating: 'India remains committed to strengthening BRICS in line with the principles of mutual understanding, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, full consultation, and consensus.'

What India Wants BRICS to Stand For

According to Trigunayat, the principles of 'equity, equality, and equanimity' — driven by consensus, inclusiveness, and sustainable growth — increasingly define both BRICS's foundational values and India's broader diplomatic priorities. These principles, he argued, have acquired growing relevance among countries of the Global South, or what is increasingly termed the 'Global Majority', despite the many internal and external challenges confronting the grouping.

With the September summit approaching, the degree to which India can translate these principles into a unified BRICS position will be the defining test of its presidency.