After BRICS 2026, India's Real Test Is Balancing The West
Following a successful BRICS 2026 summit, India faces the strategic challenge of maintaining its autonomy while balancing its relationships with the West. The author argues that India's ability to foster consensus among diverse nations is a key diplomatic asset.
Why it matters
India's diplomatic maneuvering between BRICS and Western powers is a defining factor in its evolving role as a global geopolitical player.
India's BRICS presidency has given New Delhi something better than a successful summit. It has given the country room to move. The summit wrapped up in the capital with all 11 members signing off on a 140-paragraph declaration. That alone was an achievement. The grouping, known to agree on almost nothing, met in the middle of a war in the Middle East, while Russia and Ukraine are still fighting, trade disputes are piling up, and sanctions are reshaping how countries do business with each other, and yet they agreed on a declaration.But you can't measure what India got out of this meeting by counting paragraphs. The real question is what New Delhi does next with the goodwill it just built.
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