The eighteenth BRICS summit opened at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12, 2026, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming visiting leaders. The welcome backdrop depicted the Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. Akashvani reported participation from eleven member countries and ten partner countries. The two-day meeting's agenda included global governance, trade and investment, technology, food and energy security, healthcare, disaster resilience and critical supply chains.
The broadcaster named leaders including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Cyril Ramaphosa, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Prabowo Subianto and Masoud Pezeshkian among the participants. Its eleven-member list comprised Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE. The partner-country group comprised Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. India's chairship theme placed resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability at the centre of the programme.
The summit followed Modi's September 11 address to the BRICS Business Forum, where he set out three proposed benchmarks for the Business Council. He asked it to identify the ten leading trade barriers between BRICS countries, consider supporting one hundred startups each year in entering other BRICS markets, and develop one thousand business partnerships. He proposed an annual review of progress against those benchmarks.
Modi also identified the BRICS Incubator Network, MSME Portal and Startup Innovation Fund as initiatives intended to connect smaller enterprises with markets and finance. His address referred to cooperation networks in agriculture, healthcare, skills and smart grids.
The business address also linked commercial cooperation to maritime security, stressing open supply routes and the safety of seafarers. Modi said nearly two hundred women business leaders had attended the BRICS Women's Business Alliance meeting in India.
