| Abstract: | This paper explores how India is becoming a new member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc especially with its recent growth into BRICS+. With the world moving towards a multipolar or fragmented reality, no longer a unipolar or bipolar system, India has become the “bridge power” in the bloc. This paper examines the ways in which India is using BRICS to pursue its vision of the “Voice of the Global South and at the same time retain its strategic autonomy in an environment that is typically characterized by Sino-American competition. The study emphasizes a two-pronged strategy of India, using the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) to restructure the global financial system, but also making sure that the bloc does not become an all-anti-Western Front. Some of the areas of interest include the leadership of India in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), its insistence on the introduction of the use of the local currency to settle down the risks associated with the use of the dollar and its persistent insistence to have the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reformed. The article will conclude that India is not only participating in the summits to engage in some economic cooperation, but also to secure a seat at the high table of international governance by evaluating the results of recent summits, such as the 2024 Kazan Summit and the following 2025 ministerial meetings. The results indicate that as long as internal tensions, especially the India-China border conflict, exist, BRICS will continue to be an invaluable avenue through which India can adjust the global balance to capture the 21st-century realities. |
