India, Sept. 9 -- Hosting the BRICS Summit serves as a definitive litmus test and a powerful projection of India's deeply ingrained policy of strategic autonomy. As a founding member of the BRICS bloc (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, alongside its newly expanded members), New Delhi has consistently utilised the platform to advance its geopolitical and economic interests. In an era increasingly defined by intense major-power rivalry-primarily between the US and a China-Russia axis-India's role within BRICS highlights its unique diplomatic doctrine: cultivating robust partnerships across competing global blocs without formally aligning with any single power centre.

Strategic autonomy is the foundational pillar of...