China Takes Over BRICS: Did India Strengthen the Bloc—Only to Hand Beijing a Bigger Global Platform?

India’s 2026 BRICS presidency has ended with a significant geopolitical twist: China will take over the BRICS chairship and host the 19th summit in 2027. During the New Delhi summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pushed a “Greater BRICS” agenda focused on deeper cooperation in trade, finance, AI and supply chains. China also proposed a BRICS AI Open Source Zone, giving Beijing an opportunity to shape the bloc’s technology agenda.

For India, this creates an interesting contradiction. New Delhi spent its presidency promoting BRICS as a platform for the Global South, multipolarity, economic cooperation and institutional reform. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also warned against weaponising critical minerals, technology and supply chains. Now China—the country India sees as a major strategic competitor—will control the next BRICS agenda. The question is whether India has strengthened a genuinely multipolar institution or helped create a platform where China can expand its geopolitical influence.

The challenge becomes sharper because the Modi–Xi relationship is simultaneously entering a cautious period of improvement. The two leaders agreed to maintain peace along the border, strengthen cooperation and support each other’s BRICS presidencies. China is presenting India as a partner rather than a rival, while India says it wants a relationship based on mutual respect and peaceful borders. Yet the strategic competition has not disappeared—especially over trade, technology, supply chains and regional influence.

This is where India's diplomatic balancing act will be tested. India does not want BRICS to become an anti-American or China-dominated bloc, but it also wants BRICS to challenge an international system that gives developing countries less influence. China now has a year to push its own vision—from AI and trade to global governance. Did India successfully make BRICS stronger, or has it unintentionally handed China a much bigger stage to shape the Global South?