BRICS Why in news?

17th BRICS Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under the theme “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”.

Key Outcomes of 17th Summit:

• Indonesiaofficially joined BRICS, while Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, and Uzbekistan were welcomed as BRICS partner countries.
• India will assume the BRICS Chairmanship the 18^th BRICS summit in 2026
• Global Governance Reform:BRICS backed expansion of the UN Security Council to include more permanent members from Asia, Africa, and Latin America for greater Global South representation, urged IMF and World Bank reforms to reflect Emerging Markets and Developing Countries’ (EMDCs)role, and supported a rules-based WTO.

l  Rio de Janeiro Declaration: Strengthening Global South Cooperation for a More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.

• Peace and Security:BRICS reaffirmed “African Solutions to African Problems”, called for a Gaza ceasefire and two-state solution. BRICS leaders condemned the Pahalgam attack, and India stressed that terrorism must be rejected on principle, not treated as a matter of 
• Financial Cooperation: BRICS advanced talks on a Cross-Border PaymentsInitiative to reduce US dollar reliance, supported the New Development Bank’s expansion, and the BRICS Multilateral Guarantees (BMG) pilot to de-risk investments.
• Health and Social Development:BRICS launched the Partnership for the Elimination of Socially  Determined Diseases(Tuberculosis) to tackle health disparities. 

About BRICS:

• The acronym ‘BRIC’was coined by British economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to represent the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• BRICbegan functioning as a formal group during the G-8 Outreach Summit in 2006, held its first summit in Russia in 2009, and became BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa in  
• Members:
• Initial five Members- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Joined in 2024 – Iran, UAE, Ethiopia, Egypt
• Joined in 2025 – Indonesia

(Saudi Arabia has not yet formalized its BRICS membership, while Argentina, initially expected to join in 2024, later opted out)

• Significance: 

BRICS accounts for 45% of the world’s population and 37.3% of global GDP, surpassing the EU’s 14.5% and the G7’s 29.3%. 

• Initiatives of BRICS: 
• New Development Bank (2014), 
• Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA),
• BRICS Grain Exchange,
• BRICS Rapid Information Security Channel, 
• STI Framework Programme (2015) etc.