India, Sept. 18 -- In spite of a deluge of information and commentary on the plurilateral grouping named BRICS, composed of 11 member States and 10 partner States, basic questions persist: What does it stand for; what has it achieved so far; and whether the New Delhi summit, held on September 12-13, resulted in any significant gains? In short, is BRICS an effective player on the international stage, or is it essentially a talkshop laced with VVIP protocol and media fanfare?

As the 18th summit took place, BRICS turned 20, for its original iteration - BRIC - was launched in September 2006, whereas the first summit was held in 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Human beings at age 20 are usually full of energy, enthusiasm, excitement and new id...