Authors : Samir Bhattacharya | Shrestha Medhi
Expert SpeakRaisina Debates
Published on Sep 10, 2026
As Africa’s BRICS membership grows without translating into greater influence, India’s chairship offers an opening to shift from expanding African representation to strengthening Africa’s voice within the grouping
Since Ethiopia and Egypt joined the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in early 2024, the number of permanent African members in BRICS has risen from one to three. Earlier, South Africa, which joined BRICS in 2010, was the continent’s only representative. In addition to South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda have also joined BRICS as partner countries. While reasons for joining vary across countries, the broad motivation for rallying behind BRICS is to diversify economic and political ties. For African countries, BRICS provides an opportunity to hedge against traditional development partners while enhancing their influence in global governance.
However, the growing number of African members has not yet translated into a stronger collective African voice within BRICS. For example, during the Iran crisis, while South Africa’s support for Iran was notable, both Egypt and Ethiopia criticised Iran for attacking its Gulf neighbours and supported UN Security Council Draft Resolution 2817. As a result, African members did not articulate a broader collective position that could shape the BRICS response to the crisis in Iran. For India, this represents an opportunity to reframe the grouping’s relevance for the Global South, particularly the African continent.
The African Agenda at BRICS
For African countries, BRICS has primarily been an economic platform. The New Development Bank (NDB) offers access to development finance; cooperation on critical minerals creates opportunities for investment and value addition; and discussions on payments and financial architecture promise alternatives to existing systems. The proposed BRICS Geological Platform, for example, could be crucial for countries with cobalt, lithium, manganese, and rare earth re
However, while Africa approaches BRICS largely for development, infrastructure, and financial needs, the grouping’s attention is increasingly consumed by geopolitical and security issues in West Asia. African members, therefore, risk being confined to technical committees and development-oriented discussions.
India’s Africa Moment
For India, the strategy of seeking greater African representation within BRICS has reached its limits. If expansion is effectively closed, countries such as Nigeria and Rwanda cannot be offered full membership as an incentive for deeper engagement. The partner-country mechanism established at Kazan in 2024 may therefore represent the ceiling for African participation for the foreseeable future.
Rather, India needs to shift from expanding African representation in BRICS to strengthening Africa’s voice within the grouping.
This does not, however, mean that India’s Africa strategy within BRICS has hit a roadblock. Rather, India needs to shift from expanding African representation in BRICS to strengthening Africa’s voice within the grouping.Instead of adding more African members to BRICS, India can make the grouping more relevant to Africa by ensuring that African priorities receive greater political and economic attention within the existing structure.
Against this backdrop, India’s BRICS chairship offers a major opportunity to deepen its outreach to Africa. India’s bilateral trade with the continent reached US$103 billion in 2025. New Delhi has also accumulated more than US$75 billion in lines of credit and investments across the continent and has set an ambitious objective of raising bilateral trade to US$200 billion by 2030. This economic diplomacy gives India a credible foundation for advancing African priorities within BRICS.
Making Africa’s Priorities Central to BRICS
India should start by finding convergences between African priorities and BRICS economic instruments. The NDB could finance more African infrastructure, industrialisation, and connectivity projects. BRICS cooperation on critical minerals could move beyond extraction towards processing, refining, and manufacturing in African economies. Digital payment interoperability could be developed in ways that facilitate African intra-regional commerce and India-Africa trade.
African priorities should be highlighted not merely during technical meetings but embedded in the political narrative of BRICS.
Such an approach would also fit India’s broader Africa strategy. New Delhi has increasingly presented itself not as an external power, seeking African reg, and technology transfer. BRICS can provide another institutional channel for this proposition
The Iran crisis makes this strategy more palpable. Many African economies depend heavily on Gulf investment, energy supplies, and remittances. India can offer an alternative. Rather than asking African partners to choose between competing geopolitical camps, New Delhi can use BRICS to emphasise issues that call for direct involvement from African countries, such as NDB financing, critical-mineral cooperation, agricultural technology, healthcare, digital public infrastructure, and payment connectivity.African priorities should be highlighted not merely during technical meetings but embedded in the political narrative of BRICS.
India can use its chairship to pave the way by turning the bloc’s initiatives into real development gains for Africa. Rather than avoiding geopolitics, India should ensure that the BRICS political agenda does not overshadow the group’s development priorities. The outcome of the BRICS 2026 Summit will likely be shaped by the crises unfolding across West Asia. India’s task would be to keep the Summit’s agenda focused on development needs, rather than letting it get derailed by the geopolitical interests of some member states.
If India succeeds in amplifying the African voice in BRICS, New Delhi will not merely represent Africa in an expanding multilateral forum; it will help African countries shape the grouping’s priorities and influence debates on global economic governance.
The question, therefore, won’t be whether India can bring more African countries into BRICS, but whether it can make Africa’s voice louder within the grouping.If India succeeds in amplifying the African voice in BRICS, New Delhi will not merely represent Africa in an expanding multilateral forum; it will help African countries shape the grouping’s priorities and influence debates on global economic governance. By moving swiftly to advance initiatives related to the New Development Bank, the minerals platform, and payment interoperability—before China or Gulf States do so—India can position itself as the preferred intermediary for African BRICS member countries.
Samir Bhattacharyais a Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
Shrestha Medhiis a Research Intern at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Authors
Samir Bhattacharya
Dr. Samir Bhattacharya is a Fellow at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), where he works on geopolitics with particular reference to Africa in the changing global …
Shrestha Medhi
Shrestha Medhi is a Research Intern at the Strategic Studies Programme at ORF, working on security, political, and socio-cultural dynamics across the African continent. …
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