New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- As the world economy is experiencing fundamental changes, India, on Friday, stressed the need for greater intra-BRICS trade, robust supply chains, better market access, and technological cooperation, with India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal calling on member and partner countries to convert BRICS' increasing economic heft into business opportunities.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the BRICS Business Forum held here in New Delhi, Jaishankar pointed out that BRICS has changed greatly over the past two decades, with the number of members increasing and the agenda and mechanisms of cooperation expanding. "As the chair of BRICS this year, our goal is to continue and capitalise on this transformation through resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability," said Jaishankar.
Adding, "These four priorities have gained even more importance in view of the uncertain geopolitics, conflicts, epidemics, climate disruptions, digitalisation and fast-paced technological change."
"Resilience" has become an important part of the BRICS agenda, the foreign minister noted, pointing out the contributions made by the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women's Business Alliance in involving the business community in the BRICS discussions. He emphasised the importance of "supply chain connectivity and trade facilitation," along with "agriculture and agritech, services, digital delivery, MSMEs, start-ups and women-owned businesses," in the next stage of economic collaboration within BRICS.
Jaishankar urged the need for self-reliance without sacrificing global connectivity and competitiveness, stressing that dependable logistics, a predictable business environment, diversified commercial ties and transparent trade and investment practices were vital for resilience.
The other areas of opportunity that he pointed out were digital public infrastructure, AI, FinTech and advanced manufacturing, stressing the importance of addressing issues related to accessibility, standardisation, security and trust.
Jaishankar also mentioned India's endeavour to build an ecosystem of innovation via the BRICS incubator network and the BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, noting that the benefits of such endeavours should be felt by enterprises and entrepreneurs in the BRICS grouping. Against this backdrop, Goyal made a robust case for an open and balanced trade architecture of BRICS, noting that the BRICS grouping contributes about one-fourth to international trade.
Asking for stronger trade linkages and relationships, Goyal encouraged member and partner nations to trade with each other by trading their produce, which includes raw materials and critical minerals along with supply chain diversification and streamlined processes. "Trade must not be a constraint for growth and well-being of the population of any member nation," Goyal emphasised the importance of breaking down obstacles to facilitate the exchange of goods and services.
The commerce minister also sought greater financial cooperation among BRICS economies through linking payment systems and conducting trade in local currencies. Mentioning India's UPI, he pointed out that UPI accounts for over 250 billion transactions per year and is accepted in 11 countries. He emphasised that the BRICS nations need to utilise these digital assets in order to facilitate the digital trade process across borders.
He further stressed that India would play a crucial role in fostering intra-BRICS trade, given the country's expertise in manufacturing engineering goods, electronics, medicines, automobiles and automotive parts, agriculture and services. Speaking of India as the "pharmacy of the world", he said that the country considered the BRICS nations as a very significant market for products and services that India wanted to introduce into the world economy.
He also emphasised the need for integration of startup ecosystems in order to ensure innovation and collaboration among the member countries.
While the Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said that Russia is ready to welcome foreign companies and is called an "economy of opportunity". The minister claimed that despite all the external pressure, the Russian economy is still market-based and oriented toward structural reforms.
The minister highlighted that BRICS countries are a quarter of the world's economy and they can make a powerful impact on sustainable development in the future through the creation of resilient supply chains, transition to green and digital economies and utilisation of the potential of their markets.
Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Electronics and Information Technology, stated that the BRICS Business Forum gave the chance to convert the economic weight of the group into business results.
According to Prasada, there are certain domains where collaboration between nations could help in achieving better results. Artificial Intelligence and digital services were considered to be those domains where productivity could be enhanced through better collaboration for achieving better outcomes for individuals and MSMEs. Technology transfer was needed in AI, with the United Nations retaining its central position for global governance.
For semiconductors, Prasada drew attention towards the Indian Semiconductor Mission 2.0 project which was worth about $13 billion and called for cooperation among BRICS nations for developing the entire semiconductor value chain.
Rajesh Agrawal, Secretary of Commerce, pointed out the fast growth of trade among the BRICS members that went up from USD 84 billion in 2003 to USD 1.2 trillion in 2024.
He emphasised the need to preserve and revitalise the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at the centre while pointing to the need for MSMEs to get help in the form of working capital at an affordable cost. He stated that the Jaipur Consensus could serve as a starting point for such an initiative among BRICS countries.
Agrawal mentioned BRICS Connect, business-to-business collaboration, and annual BRICS Trade & Investment Expo as possible tools to reinforce global value chains. The use of digital trade documents and sectoral cooperation, especially in healthcare, could contribute to economic integration according to the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2030.
The business fraternity responded positively to this plea of turning BRICS' economic clout into business partnerships. Speaking at the conference, BRICS Business Council Chairman Jai Shroff described how the grouping had assembled markets of considerable size, natural resources, manufacturing capacity, tech companies, finance houses, research capability, and entrepreneurial spirit, and that the potential was in leveraging all this.
Speaking on behalf of BRICS Women's Business Alliance, chairperson Avarna Jain said that any meaningful economic inclusion for women should involve giving them access to capital, transactions, and decision-making.
"Ultimately, we will judge the success of BRICS by its ability to build customers, forge partnerships, and investments," said FICCI President Anant Goenka.
President of CII R Mukundan added that uncertainties of geopolitics and disruptions of technology have strengthened the need for economic collaboration between BRICS countries.
The deliberations during the business forum are going to precede the summit of BRICS leaders in New Delhi, and the economic integration, resilient supply chain, digital collaboration, and increased intra-group trade are some of the core areas for India to influence the next phase of the expanded bloc.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.