When the leaders of the BRICS bloc left New Delhi's Bharat Mandapam convention centre on 13 September, they left behind a document that says a lot — and a gap that says even more. The 18th BRICS summit, hosted by India on 12–13 September 2026, ended with a unanimously adopted New Delhi Declaration, a 140-paragraph text that took in everything from Middle East conflicts to artificial intelligence. What it did not contain was a common BRICS currency, the idea that has haunted headlines about the bloc for years.
Why the guest list mattered more than the agenda
Summits like this are usually judged by their communiqués. This one was judged by who turned up. Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to India was his first in seven years, after a period in which relations between the two most populous countries were badly strained. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended too, meaning the leaders of India, China and Russia shared one room and one group photo at a time when each of them has very different problems with the West.
On the first day, Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting. According to reporting on the talks, they covered border stability, trade imbalances, market access, transport links and broader economic ties — described by observers as a cautious attempt to stabilise a relationship, not to transform it. Nobody announced a breakthrough. But a meeting whose main achievement is that it took place is still news when the gap since the last state visit is seven years.
The numbers behind the bloc
It is easy to dismiss a leaders' summit as theatre. The arithmetic of the bloc is harder to wave away.
Taken together, the BRICS members account for 49.5% of the world's population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade (the figures used in our video). That is a bloc most people underestimate — and one held together by countries that disagree on a great deal. India and China compete for influence across Asia; Russia is under Western sanctions; Brazil and South Africa have their own priorities in the global South. Consensus among them is an achievement in itself.
What the declaration actually says
The text covers cooperation on UN reform, finance, energy, food security, AI and sustainable development. On the world stage it calls for "maximum restraint" in Middle East conflicts, supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and opposes the forced displacement of Palestinians. On trade it criticises the "increasing use of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures" — a clear reference to the tariff wars of recent years — and it backs a "just, orderly, equitable and inclusive" energy transition.
There were also some concrete, if modest, deliverables: an endorsed BRICS Incubator Network and a Startup Innovation Fund, aimed at linking the members' technology sectors. India and Russia separately reiterated a goal of raising bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2030.
The most telling line is the one that isn't there: no common BRICS currency.
The gap in the middle
Talk of a shared currency has been the loudest BRICS story of the last few years, and this summit did not move it forward. That is consistent with how the bloc really works: it is a forum where very different economies coordinate positions, not a union with a single monetary policy. Members trade in local currencies where it suits them — but the dollar is still the world's default for oil, debt and reserves, and none of the biggest members has an interest in giving up control of its own currency.
What to watch next
India's chairship has now ended and China takes the chair for 2027, carrying forward the bloc's "multipolar" agenda. Whether the Xi–Modi handshake in Delhi was the start of a lasting thaw or a one-off will show up in dull, measurable things: border talks, trade flows and market access. Those numbers, not the group photo, are what will tell us if Delhi mattered.
