NEW DELHI, Sept 10:
Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has questioned the benefits India has gained from recent BRICS summits, saying he has not seen tangible results from the last two or three meetings of the grouping.
His remarks came ahead of the 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, with India holding the BRICS chairmanship this year. Chidambaram said India was a member of several major international groupings, but questioned whether these platforms had produced concrete gains for the country.
He pointed out that India is part of BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the G20 and the Quad. He questioned what tangible benefits India had obtained from these groupings in recent years.
Chidambaram, however, noted that earlier BRICS summits had produced some tangible outcomes. His criticism was specifically directed at what he described as the lack of visible results from the more recent meetings.
India is hosting the BRICS summit in New Delhi as the grouping’s chair for 2026. The Indian presidency has adopted the theme of building resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability, with an emphasis on a people-centric and humanity-first approach.
His comments come at a time when the summit is attracting considerable international attention, particularly because of the changing geopolitical environment and India’s relations with major BRICS members such as China and Russia.
Preparations for the summit have also intensified in the national capital. Civic and public works officials have inspected the summit venue and key routes, with instructions issued on sanitation, road maintenance, security-related arrangements and other civic facilities.
The BRICS summit is expected to provide India with an important diplomatic platform, but Chidambaram’s remarks have triggered a political debate over whether India’s participation in major multilateral groupings has translated into sufficient economic, strategic and diplomatic gains.