written by Jiyaa Bagla
Via Hub Pages
We all know India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but what are our leaders doing to keep us on track? P.M. Narendra Modi is quite literally building the Indian economy and world relations BRIC by BRIC. The five-member BRICS alliance was formed on 16 June 2009 by founding countries- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (as the name suggests). These nations have one thing in common: they are expected to collectively dominate the global economy by 2050. But, more importantly, it’s a power move: India is not backing down anytime soon.
Recently, BRICS has extended an invitation to 6 Nations (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the UAE) in a revolutionary move to reshuffle the ‘outdated’ world order established by Western Countries. This expansion now includes almost half of the world’s population and three of the world’s biggest oil producers. However, is the world, mainly our Bharat, ready to face its implications?
First, we must understand why this decision was made. In terms of geopolitics, India finds itself in the middle of a tug-of-war for balancing the strategic interests between the USA and the Russia-China relations. On one hand, India is wholly dependent on the USA for trade relations and shares unanimous concerns for China’s accelerated development. On the other hand, India gets most of its military equipment and cheap crude oil from Russia. Additionally, China is a major hindrance against India’s pending membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Similarly, India will be able to maintain its newly rekindled relations with Egypt. Hopefully, BRICS will be the right mediator for India to maintain its diplomacy with all the parties involved. Specifically, the Intra-BRICS trade initiative offers proposals for growth amidst India and China’s security tensions.
But, why would BRICS invite Iran during its recessional period and its political conflicts? The answer to this is simple: Iran plays a significant role in the energy sector. Iran-India trace value in just 6 months has been close to $1 billion. India has also signed a $8 billion investment deal with Iran to develop the Chabahar port into a transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Not only does this route facilitate transport between some BRICS nations, but it also expands India’s horizons in world trade. All this progress wouldn’t have been possible if China 1 hadn’t helped bring Saudi Arabia and Iran to a diplomatic agreement in March, BRICS is simply a platform for this newly formed alliance to be constant.
These leading economies have formed the New Development Bank, i.e. BRICS Bank. Argentina, in particular, is at a higher advantage as it will get access to BRICS funding for its depleted foreign reserves, high inflation and debt repayments. What’s more astonishing is that the BRICS Bank aims to issue its first Indian rupee bond by October. Could India be challenging the acceptance and universal power of the USD?
Not many would expect Ethiopia to be a part of BRICS. India has always looked at them as one of the key African Countries, mainly because of their seat in the African Union. Ethiopia has benefitted from India’s support during issues at the UN, but India is also advocating for greater African representation in the G-20 and UN, something that would be more strategic with BRICS. It seems as if the tables of history have turned. These countries are finally regaining their authority after the West's historic repeated exploitations.
BRICS expansion is a record-breaking alliance. Furthermore, with time, we can fully analyse the expansions’ repercussions. For now, staying glued to our seats is important: we may just have found ourselves with front-row tickets to a new India.
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