Ahead of BRICS, Congress recalls 2012 summit where former PM Manmohan Singh proposed development bank

New Delhi: Ahead of the BRICS summit here, the Congress on Thursday recalled how the grouping came about and India first hosted the Summit in 2012 during which then prime minister Manmohan Singh proposed the idea of a BRICS Development Bank.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh recalled that it was 25 years ago in November 2001 that British economist Jim O'Neill then with the investment bank Goldman Sachs had published his famous report 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs' and coined the acronym BRIC referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China as the four fast-growing economies that would collectively dominate the global economy by the middle of the century.

"Thereafter, largely at the initiative of President (Vladimir) Putin, in September 2006 the Foreign Ministers of this quartet met at the UN in New York and decided to build different types of linkages among themselves. The first BRIC Summit was held in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg in Russia. This was attended by Dr. Manmohan Singh," Ramesh said on X.


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In September 2010 BRIC became BRICS with the addition of South Africa, while Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE joined BRICS in 2024 and Indonesia a year later, he pointed out.

"Presidency of the Group rotates every year. India first hosted the Summit on March 29, 2012 in New Delhi. It was at this meeting that Dr. Manmohan Singh had proposed the idea of a BRICS Development Bank. This institution came into being in July 2014 headquartered in Shanghai as the New Development Bank (NDB) with noted banker KV Kamath as its first president," Ramesh said.

Since then, India has borrowed around USD 10 billion from the NDB for various development projects in different states, he said.

Ramesh's remarks come ahead of the two-day BRICS summit hosted by India starting Saturday. The summit will focus on boosting collective resilience in food, energy, health, disaster reduction and critical supply chains -- positioning the group as an effective anchor to navigate a fragmented geopolitical environment.

The summit in New Delhi is taking place against the backdrop of the global economy facing the adverse impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, the West Asia crisis, especially the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration's trade and tariff policies.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto are among the top leaders expected to attend the crucial meeting.

The grouping operates under a framework of consensus. BRICS, earlier comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with Indonesia joining in 2025.

Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam became BRICS partner countries last year.

BRICS emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade. India's chairship of the grouping centred on the four pillars: resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability. PTI