India's BRICS strategy tested with Xi, Putin set to visit

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the 18th BRICS summit this weekend in New Delhi, welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to India for the first time since 2019.

The summit comes at an important moment for India . As New Delhi's year-long BRICS presidency draws to a close, India is stepping up engagement with China and Russia , and its relationship with Washington remains difficult .

Modi met both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31 and September 1. Just two weeks later, Modi is set to see them again in New Delhi for the BRICS summit.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

But with BRICS both growing in size and increasingly troubled by internal divisions, the forum might limit Modi's diplomatic gains.

Indian diplomats are trying to protect their room for maneuver in a changing international order.

Ashok Kantha, a former Indian ambassador to China, said India's engagement with BRICS and the SCO is part of New Delhi's longstanding strategy of strategic autonomy.

"These groupings give India a seat at the table and allow it to pursue its own interests while maintaining relationships with different major powers," Kantha told DW.