NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday joined BRICS leaders, Chairs of the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance for a family photograph in the national capital during the BRICS Business Forum 2026.
The group photograph featured Modi alongside Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, among other dignitaries.
The BRICS Business Forum, the flagship private-sector platform of the grouping, is convened annually in the host country ahead of the Leaders’ Summit. It brings together business leaders, ministers and heads of state to deliberate on key issues concerning trade, investment, finance, technology and development.
The forum also provides an opportunity for the BRICS Business Council to present key recommendations and proposals. Its deliberations play an agenda-setting role, with its conclusions and recommendations often reflected in BRICS Summit declarations and subsequent work plans.
Key areas of discussion include intra-BRICS trade, investment, the digital economy, MSMEs, standards cooperation and value-chain integration.
The forum assumes added significance as India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit under its 2026 chairship. India’s chairship is guided by the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, with development, sustainability and innovation among its key priorities.
BRICS currently comprises 11 countries — Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE. Collectively, the grouping represents around 49.5 per cent of the global population, 40 per cent of global GDP and 26 per cent of global trade.
India’s BRICS chairship comes against the backdrop of global economic fragmentation, technological disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change and resource pressures. New Delhi’s focus is on translating the group’s expanded representation into meaningful cooperation and tangible outcomes while building consensus among its diverse members.
The participation of business leaders, ministers and heads of state at the Business Forum is therefore being viewed as an important component of India’s BRICS chairship as the grouping works towards strengthening cooperation in trade, investment, finance, technology and development.
