Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked hand-in-hand with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin as BRICS leaders gathered in New Delhi on Friday. With Western pressure on Russia and Iran forming a sharp backdrop, the red-carpet moment at the BRICS Business Forum put the growing economic and political weight of the expanded bloc firmly in focus.
PM Modi was seen holding hands with Pezeshkian while Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa joined the group. The Business Forum was held ahead of the formal opening of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
“We believe that the true strength of BRICS is not confined merely to the size of its members’ economies; rather, it becomes more apparent when these capacities are transformed into a network of trade, investment and joint financing – a transition from potential cooperation to operational one,” he said. The Iranian President also pointed to geopolitical uncertainty, disrupted supply chains and the “increasing use of economic instruments to exert political pressure.”
PM Modi’s address focused on the economic scale of the grouping. the combined GDP of BRICS members had grown nearly four-and-a-half times While global GDP had increased about two-and-a-half times over the period he cited. BRICS countries now account for 50% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP and more than 25% of global trade, according to the Prime Minister. He described the 2026 gathering in India as the largest BRICS Business Forum held so far.
He said the difference in growth was even more significant. “The economic strength of BRICS has grown at nearly twice the pace of the rest of the world,” PM Modi said. “Reliable business-to-business ties and economic partnerships are the backbone of international economic relations,” the Russian President said.
