BRICS Summit 2026: India Faces $130 Billion Trade Deficit Challenge

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By Prof. S.S. SOMRA

As India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, its widening trade deficit with fellow members highlights the economic and diplomatic challenges facing the expanded grouping.

Jaipur, September 11, 2026 — India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026—an event of immense significance for this organization of emerging economies and developing nations. The year 2026 also marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of BRICS.

The theme for India’s presidency is “Building Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability.” Under this theme, India’s primary focus is to foster concrete and practical cooperation in sectors such as trade, agriculture, healthcare, energy, digital technology, urban development, startups, and climate action.

As it holds the BRICS presidency, India faces the dual challenge of maintaining a diplomatic balance. The core focus of India’s presidency is to strengthen the voice of the Global South—aligned with the agenda of resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability—while simultaneously promoting economic and technological collaboration.

However, amidst the conflict in West Asia and rising polarization, India must ensure that BRICS does not emerge as a partisan bloc but instead remains a platform for advancing the economic interests of developing nations.

Yet, according to a report by Rubix Data Sciences, India’s trade relationship with the BRICS bloc is likely to remain skewed towards imports. Despite an overall surge in trade, India’s merchandise trade deficit with the other 10 members widened sharply in the first half of 2026.

During this period, the deficit rose by 17.2% year-on-year to approximately $130 billion, up from $111 billion in the corresponding period the previous year.

In the first half of 2026, India’s imports from the other 10 BRICS nations reached approximately $178 billion, marking a 13.5% increase compared to the first half of 2025. In comparison, exports stood at $48 billion, reflecting a 4.6% rise. China and Russia were the largest sources of imports, accounting for 41% and 20% of the total, respectively.

During this period, India’s total merchandise trade with other BRICS members grew by 11.5% year-on-year to approximately $226 billion. China and the UAE were the largest trading partners within the bloc, commanding shares of 37% and 20% of India’s total BRICS trade, respectively.

The overall trade environment for BRICS also improved in the first half of 2026. The total merchandise trade of this 11-member group rose by 15.4% year-on-year to approximately $5.8 trillion; exports increased by 12.5% to $3.2 trillion, while imports grew by 19.1% to $2.6 trillion.

Due to imports rising faster than exports, the group’s trade surplus narrowed from $660 billion to $597 billion. The report highlights divergent trends across different regions amidst the ongoing conflict in West Asia; while trade involving Iran and the UAE declined by 22.8% and 10% respectively in the first half of 2026, India’s total merchandise trade grew by approximately 12%.

With a share of approximately 24% in global merchandise exports and 19% in imports in 2025, the BRICS group remains pivotal to global trade.

However, as this expanded platform—representing a vast portion of the world’s population and economy—has grown in size, forging a consensus on complex diplomatic issues has become increasingly challenging. Maintaining consensus becomes complex when the interests of member countries—linked to diverse strategic alliances—clash.

This summit will primarily rest on three pillars: politics and security; economy and finance; and cultural and humanitarian dimensions.