India’s foreign policy choices can at times be contradictory. While on the one hand, India joins BRICS with China and Russia, which has become a platform for the Global South to voice its opinions; on the other hand, India joins QUAD with America, Japan and Australia, which promotes the free and open Indo-Pacific.
Does India lose by balancing between the two; or does India benefit from having two voices? India does not seek to pick a side but rather advance its own interests by having a voice in both forums.
BRICS: India’s connection with the Global South
BRICS (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa; with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE, and Indonesia as members already) is an important platform for India to engage with other emerging economies.
India has long promoted the need for reform in international financial and strategic institutions, with a view towards enhancing the representation of developing countries in these institutions. India does not seek to oppose the status quo altogether but promote a more equitable world order, in which countries in the Global South have enhanced say in matters pertaining to international law, trade, finance, and security.
This is an important objective since the world political and economic order is undergoing significant changes, and many countries in Asia, Africa, Latin-America and the Middle-East are beginning to demand a more prominent role in international relations.
BRICS provides India with a platform to advance this agenda.
India’s presidency of the BRICS grouping in 2026 will be critical to advance many of these objectives. New Delhi has identified Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability as overarching themes for its tenure, and has prioritized digital public infrastructure, development, and institutional reforms, among others.
Moreover, the New Development Bank, created by the BRICS nations, provides alternative financing for India’s development needs, thus reducing its reliance on western dominated financial institutions.
But BRICS also creates a problem for India
India’s membership of BRICS also comes with risks and challenges. China’s shadow looms large over the future of the grouping, as India and China are both economic and strategic competitors. The unresolved border dispute between the two countries has complicated their relations, and the two nations are also competing to expand their influence in Asia. In addition, China has proven to be economically more powerful than many of its BRICS counterparts, and has the capacity to dominate the grouping.
This poses a dilemma for India, which seeks to enhance its global profile through the BRICS, but does not want the grouping to turn into an explicitly anti-western bloc dominated by China and Russia. This is a particularly pertinent issue, given that the BRICS’ economic and strategic influence is set to grow substantially.
India’s official stance on this issue has been that the BRICS should focus on cooperation and reforms, rather than pursuing confrontation with the west. This has been the key message of India’s BRICS agenda as it prepares to assume the presidency of the grouping in 2026.
In particular, India has sought to avoid any explicit anti-western rhetoric, and has promoted caution in pursuing policies to upend the existing international financial and strategic order. For instance, although India has promoted economic integration within the BRICS, it has not supported the idea of a common currency for the grouping, and has instead advocated for greater use of local currencies in regional trade.
This indicates that, while New Delhi is willing to pursue pragmatic policies to enhance economic cooperation with other BRICS nations, it is not willing to jeopardize its foreign policy objectives for the sake of economic integration.
QUAD: India’s Indo-Pacific advantage
Unlike BRICS, QUAD focuses on promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, and is the primary geopolitical tool through which India advances its strategic and economic interests in the region.
Comprising India, America, Japan, and Australia, QUAD promotes collaboration between these four nations on a variety of strategic and economic issues, including, among others, maritime security, technology, innovation, critical and emerging technologies, cyber security, climate change, and disaster management. For India, QUAD is an important strategic tool to promote its influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Indo-Pacific region is the new fault line of international competition, and India has an existential interest in ensuring that the region remains open and free. India has one of the longest coastlines in the world, and its economy critically depends on the security of sea lanes of communication. The criticality of these sea lanes of communication was demonstrated during the covid-19 pandemic, when disruptions to global trade resulted in severe shortages of essential goods in India.
Thus, QUAD provides India with an important forum to advance its maritime security interests, which in turn underpin its broader economic objectives. In addition, QUAD provides India with an important platform to collaborate with America, Japan, and Australia on emerging technology issues.
This is particularly pertinent given that many nations are seeking to reduce their dependence on any one nation for critical goods ranging from semiconductors to rare earth elements, and promoting alternative supply chains. In this regard, India’s QUAD diplomacy has focused on bolstering critical minerals and energy security. For instance, during the meeting of Quad foreign ministers in New Delhi in May 2026, India and its Quad counterparts discussed ways to promote collaboration on critical minerals and Indo-Pacific energy security.
This will have significant implications for India’s economy, since access to reliable sources of critical minerals and energy will be paramount to its long term growth and development.
So, where is the conflict?
At this point, it may seem that India has it all economic and strategic outreach via BRICS, and enhanced security and technology cooperation via QUAD. However, the catch is that India has to balance its commitments to both groupings, and there are risks associated with pursuing a foreign policy that seeks to hedge between great powers.
In particular, China and Russia have been vocal in their opposition to the QUAD. Similarly, QUAD members have expressed concerns about China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
This means that India has to be extremely careful in navigating its relationships with all stakeholders, in order to not alienate any of them. At the same time, India must avoid appearing as an ‘anti china’ or an ‘anti-russia’ bloc as this could diminish its credibility with other nations. In this regard, India has to pursue a policy of realism in its foreign policy, which prioritizes its national interests over all else. This may require India to adopt positions that are inconvenient to its strategic allies, but which serve its broader geopolitical and economic interests.
Does India actually benefit from both QUAD and BRICS?
Yes, but the benefits have to be weighed against the costs. India has more to gain from QUAD than BRICS, but BRICS provides India with significant economic opportunities.
BRICS allows India to:
- Enhance its profile as a leader of the Global South
- Promote reforms in international financial and strategic institutions
- Deepen its economic ties with emerging markets
- Boost its strategic partnership with Russia, China, the Middle-East, Africa, and Latin-America
- Diversify its sources of financing, particularly through the New Development Bank.
QUAD gives India:
- Strengthen its strategic partnerships with America, Japan, and Australia
- Promote free and open Indo-Pacific, which is crucial for India’s national security and economic growth
- Cooperate with its Quad partners on maritime security issues, which bolsters India’s blue economy objectives
- Collaborate with Quad partners on emerging technologies, which promotes India’s technology sovereignty objectives
- Diversify its supply chains, particularly in critical minerals and energy, thereby reducing its dependence on any one nation.
But India can lose if the balance is not managed
However, India has to remain aware of the pitfalls of pursuing this policy of multipolarity. If QUAD chooses to oppose China and BRICS chooses to oppose the west, India will have to decide which camp to belong to. Thus, as India navigates the complex geopolitical terrain, it must adopt a policy of realism, which prioritizes its national interests, rather than being dictated by its strategic allies.
Conclusion
It is therefore clear that the options for India are not between BRICS and QUAD, but rather between the QUAD and BRICS and pursuing a policy of engagement with both. While QUAD allows India to advance its strategic and technology interests, BRICS allows India to promote its economic and geopolitical interests in the Global South.
The benefits of engaging with both groupings outweigh the costs, as long as India adheres to a pragmatic and realistic foreign policy. After all, the world is becoming more multipolar and the competition between great powers is only set to intensify. Thus, the more options India has at its disposal, the better.