India Looks to Turn BRICS Ties into Trade and Investment Gains, Says Industry Body

New Delhi – The 18th BRICS Summit, set to take place in the capital from September 12‑13, is being billed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) as more than a diplomatic get‑together. According to its president, S C Ralhan, the two‑day gathering could become a practical launch‑pad for Indian businesses eager to tap the booming economies of the Global South.

Ralhan warned that talk alone will not move the needle. “We need to turn strategic dialogue into measurable commercial outcomes,” he told reporters, urging the host nation to focus on a handful of realistic deliverables. Faster customs clearance, fewer non‑tariff barriers, clearer regulations, mutual recognition of standards, and smoother cross‑border payments are at the top of his list.

Those changes, he believes, would do more than just make paperwork easier. They could open up deeper supply‑chain partnerships, channel investment into technology‑rich projects, and help Indian firms embed themselves in the value chains that are sprouting across Brazil, South Africa, Russia, China and the new members from the Gulf and Latin America.

India’s export basket, Ralhan pointed out, is already diverse – ranging from engineering goods, pharmaceuticals and chemicals to textiles, automobiles, electronics, food, renewable‑energy equipment and digital services. The expanded BRICS bloc now represents roughly a quarter of global trade, giving Indian exporters a much broader playground beyond traditional markets such as the United States and Europe.

“The goal isn’t simply to sell more to BRICS countries,” he said, “it’s to become an integral part of the production and sourcing networks they are building.” In practice, that could mean joint‑venture factories in Africa, technology‑sharing agreements with Latin American firms, or sourcing critical minerals from Eurasian partners.

One thorny issue Ralhan highlighted is payment uncertainty. When buyers and sellers can’t rely on stable, transparent mechanisms for settling invoices, transaction costs rise and confidence falls – a problem that hits small and medium‑size enterprises hardest. He called for greater use of local currencies in intra‑BRICS trade, along with digital documentation that can cut red‑tape.

Beyond policy tweaks, FIEO is pushing for a stronger business‑to‑business architecture within the summit: sector‑specific buyer‑seller meetings, investment matchmaking, technology partnerships, and regular delegations that keep the dialogue alive year after year.

If these ideas take root, the BRICS platform could become a catalyst for India to deepen its engagement with the Global South, converting diplomatic goodwill into tangible export growth, investment inflows and more resilient supply chains.