We talk a lot about Russia and China as leaders of the BRICS bloc of nations. But India is also a large and growing economy. The Hindustan Times runs this article leading up to the BRICS summit next week. The article mentions the coming BRICS bank, but we can't help but notice something else the article mentions (see underlined below).
This is a pretty straight forward article, but we will list a few quotes and then add a comment below that.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave from New Delhi on Sunday for Brazil to attend the five-nation summit of BRICS nations on July 14 and 15 which is expected to finalise the setting up of a development bank and seek reforms of the United Nations and international financial organisations."
"The sixth summit of BRICS, which will follow up on the decisions of the Durban meeting last year, will provide the prime minister his first opportunity at meeting world leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, and discuss bilateral issues."
"BRICS accounts for more than a quarter of the world's land mass, 40% of its population and a combined GDP of $24 trillion.
Officials say that India will be hoping for an endorsement of the need for UN Security Council reforms and also those of the Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and IMF.
The BRICS Development Bank is expected to take further shape with a decision to concretise its corpus at $100 billion, about which there was a broad agreement in Durban.
Discussions are on about the contribution from each member state and where to locate its headquarters -- whether Shanghai or New Delhi.
It will be a development bank which will give concessional credit to members of BRICS and other developing countries."
"On July 16, the BRICS leaders will move to the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, where they will meet leaders of South America, who have been invited by the hosts on the lines of Zuma inviting African leaders to Durban.
The Prime Minister will get an opportunity to engage with the Latin American region through meeting the leaders of South America, including heads of state and government from countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela."
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My added comments;
Here we get a glimpse of the upcoming summit from the Indian point of view. A couple of things to note in the article are:
-here again we see emphasis on getting "reforms at the UN, World Bank, and the IMF. Not abandoning them yet. India hopes to see a BRICS endorsement to get reforms at these institutions.
-we see in this article that BRICS leaders are reaching out to other South American nations to improve ties. We can assume the intent is for the new BRICS bank to gain prestige and influence in its efforts to become an alternative to the World Bank and the IMF. Again, success will put pressure on the IMF and World Bank to make changes the BRICS want while building up their own new system.
-BRICS have 40% of the world population and a combined $24 Trillion in GDP. This is a statistic they mention in virtually every media article to remind the West that they are to be taken seroiusly. It is kind of silly to talk about a "global monetary system" if 40% of the world is not included in it (drops out of the present system).
-One other note. This article (in an Indian publication) mentions New Delhi as possible home to the new BRICS bank, but Russia has already leaked that it will be in Shaghai.
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