Explained: Why the African countries see India as a big brother to lead them to BRICS membership

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing that the expansion of BRICS membership should move ahead with the ‘consensus’ of the member states, all eyes will be on India when the BRICS-Africa Outreach Conference is held on Thursday, writes ETV Bharat’s Aroonim Bhuyan.

New Delhi: Following the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit being held in Johannesburg on Wednesday, a BRICS-Africa Outreach Conference will be held on Thursday. This assumes significance as the expansion of the BRICS multilateral bloc is on the top of the agenda in this year’s summit, the theme of which is ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism’.

This is the third time that South Africa is hosting the BRICS Summit. Even when it hosted the first Summit in 2013 in Durban, and then again in Johannesburg in 2018, South Africa always made it a point to hold a BRICS-Africa Outreach Conference. However, this assumes significance in this year’s Summit as the expansion of BRICS is at the top of the agenda.

Originally named BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the bloc came to be known as BRICS with the addition of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS countries have a combined area of 39,746,220 sq km and an estimated total population of about 3.24 billion accounting for about 26.7 per cent of the world’s land surface and over 41 per cent of the global population. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the BRICS member states is $26 trillion, which accounts for 31.5 per cent of the global economy.

Around 40 countries have expressed their interest in joining the bloc, including Ethiopia, Egypt and Nigeria in Africa. This is where the role of India comes into play in the expansion of the bloc. India is seen as the voice of the Global South.

Following a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Had an excellent meeting with President @CyrilRamaphosa. We discussed a wide range of issues aimed at deepening India-South Africa relations. Trade, defence and investment linkages featured prominently in our discussions. We will keep working together to strengthen the voice of the Global South as well.”

And then! Dispelling all speculations about India’s stand on the expansion of the bloc, Modi during his address to the Summit on Wednesday, made it clear that New Delhi fully supports the addition of new member states to BRICS.

“India fully supports the expansion of the BRICS membership,” Modi said. “We welcome moving forward with consensus in this.”

So, why are African nations interested in getting membership in the BRICS bloc? “As part of its foreign policy, South Africa has invited other African countries to this year’s BRICS Summit in Johannesburg,” Ruchita Beri, consultant at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, explained to ETV Bharat. “African countries feel that they will get better developmental support if they get BRICS membership. Most of the African countries are marginalised and they feel their voices would be heard if they join BRICS.”

The reasons behind BRICS countries’ involvement in Africa include their appetite for the continent’s natural resources, Africa’s large and untapped agricultural sector as well as the opportunity for investments and transfer of technology and knowledge targeting the growing middle class.

In 2014, the BRICS member states established the New Development Bank (NDB), infusing it with an initial investment of $50 billion. “This financial institution was conceived as an alternative to the dominant Western institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which have faced criticism for imposing stringent economic policies on developing nations,” writes Zita Zage in Global Voices. “The NDB offers member countries a counterbalance, providing access to development financing without the constrictions associated with the World Bank and the IMF.”

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stress on “consensus” for new membership of BRICS, Beri said that India has always supported the membership of African countries in multilateral forums. She said that over the last year since South Africa assumed the chair of BRICS, the discussions have centred on the criteria for granting membership to new countries.

“India has positioned itself as the voice of the Global South,” she said. India has pushed for AU’s membership in the G20. With India holding the G20 presidency this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought the consensus of all member states of the bloc to include the African Union (AU) as a permanent member. South African President Ramaphosa has heartily welcomed this initiative of India.

So, when the BRICS-Africa Outreach Conference is held on Thursday, all eyes will be on India.