On July 6, 2025, the Indian Navy’s frontline warship INS Tabar executed a critical rescue operation in the Gulf of Oman, responding to a distress call from the merchant vessel MT Yi Cheng 6, a Pulau-flagged tanker en route from Kandla, Gujarat, to Shinas, Oman. The vessel, carrying 14 Indian crew members, suffered a catastrophic engine room fire and complete power failure, endangering lives and disrupting a vital trade route. According to a July 7, 2025, press release from the Indian Ministry of Defence, INS Tabar, deployed for maritime security operations, diverted its course within hours, deploying a 13-member firefighting team alongside five of the tanker’s crew. Utilizing ship-launched boats and a helicopter, the team transferred specialized equipment to the vessel, reducing the fire’s intensity significantly, with no reported injuries. This operation underscores India’s operational capacity in maritime crisis response, a capability honed through exercises like the biennial Milan multinational naval drills, which, per a February 2025 Indian Navy report, involved 35 nations and enhanced interoperability in the Indo-Pacific.
The Gulf of Oman, a chokepoint for 20% of global oil transit as reported by the International Energy Agency in its June 2025 Oil Market Report, represents a critical node in global trade. India’s intervention aligns with its strategic pivot toward securing sea lines of communication, particularly in the Indian Ocean Region, where 80% of its oil imports traverse, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas’s 2024 Annual Report. The rescue operation reflects India’s broader maritime doctrine, outlined in the 2015 Maritime Security Strategy, which emphasizes humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as pillars of regional influence. By stabilizing the MT Yi Cheng 6, INS Tabar not only safeguarded Indian citizens but also reinforced India’s role as a first responder in a geopolitically sensitive region, countering narratives of Chinese naval dominance, which, per a March 2025 Center for Strategic and International Studies report, has expanded with 370 active naval vessels compared to India’s 150.
Concurrently, India’s diplomatic engagements amplify its maritime assertiveness. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro on July 6-7, 2025, hosted by Brazil under the theme “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance,” positions India as a linchpin in the Global South’s push for reformed global governance. A June 27, 2025, statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs emphasized India’s commitment to integrating new BRICS members—Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, inducted in January 2025 per a January 20, 2025, Brazilian government press release—and partner countries including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. These expansions, initiated at the 2023 Johannesburg Summit and formalized in Kazan in 2024, as documented by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in its October 2024 report, increase BRICS’ share of global GDP to 46%, surpassing the G7’s 26%, according to World Bank estimates from April 2025.
The New Development Bank (NDB), established in 2015 with an initial capital of $50 billion, as noted in the BRICS Fortaleza Declaration of July 2014, exemplifies intra-BRICS financial cooperation. By June 2025, the NDB had approved $35 billion for 100 infrastructure projects across member states, per its 2025 Annual Report, with 30% of loans in local currencies to reduce U.S. dollar dependency. This aligns with Brazil’s 2025 presidency priorities, which, according to a February 11, 2025, Brazilian government statement, focus on trade, investment, and finance reform. The NDB’s expansion to include Bangladesh, Egypt, and the UAE by 2021, as reported by the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in October 2024, enhances its role as a counterweight to the World Bank, which disbursed $91 billion in 2023. India’s advocacy for local currency trade, evidenced by a $2 billion rupee-denominated oil deal with the UAE in August 2023, per a Reuters report, underscores its push for financial multipolarity.
The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), formalized in 2014 with a $100 billion reserve, provides a financial safety net for balance-of-payment crises, with China contributing $41 billion, Brazil, India, and Russia $18 billion each, and South Africa $5 billion, as detailed in the BRICS 2014 Fortaleza Declaration. A June 2025 IMF working paper notes that the CRA’s operationalization has been limited, with only $3 billion disbursed since inception, primarily to South Africa during its 2020 fiscal crisis. Nonetheless, India’s support for the CRA’s expansion, as articulated in a May 2025 Ministry of Finance policy brief, aims to bolster resilience against global financial volatility, particularly for newer members like Ethiopia, which faces a $1.2 billion balance-of-payment gap in 2025, per the African Development Bank’s April 2025 Economic Outlook.
The BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre, established in 2020 to address pandemic challenges, has facilitated collaborative research, with India’s Bharat Biotech contributing to a $1.5 billion vaccine development fund, according to a March 2025 World Health Organization report. The centre’s focus on equitable vaccine access, highlighted during the 2020 Saint Petersburg Summit, aligns with Brazil’s 2025 priority of global health cooperation. India’s role in supplying 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 95 countries by 2023, per the Indian Council of Medical Research, positions it as a leader in this domain, enhancing BRICS’ soft power in the Global South, where vaccine inequity persists, with only 22% of low-income countries achieving 70% vaccination coverage by mid-2025, per WHO data.
The BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation, agreed upon in 2021 and operationalized in 2024, integrates six satellites from China, Russia, and India, as outlined in the Kazan Declaration of October 2024. A June 2025 report from the Indian Space Research Organisation notes that the constellation provides real-time data for disaster management and climate monitoring, critical for members like Brazil, where deforestation in the Amazon increased by 11% in 2024, per Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. India’s contribution of RISAT-1A, launched in February 2022, enhances the constellation’s capacity to monitor agricultural yields, supporting food security initiatives in Ethiopia, where 20 million people face acute food insecurity, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s May 2025 report.
India’s upcoming BRICS presidency in 2026, announced at the 2025 Rio Summit, will build on Brazil’s institutional development focus. A June 27, 2025, Indian Ministry of External Affairs statement emphasized India’s intent to streamline BRICS’ consensus-based decision-making, addressing challenges posed by diverse members like Iran and the UAE, whose geopolitical tensions, notably over Persian Gulf influence, complicate unity, as noted in a March 2025 Carnegie Endowment report. India’s experience mediating Sino-Russian dynamics, evidenced by its neutral stance on Russia’s Ukraine conflict at the 2024 Kazan Summit, positions it to navigate these rivalries. The absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping from the 2025 Summit, as reported by X posts on June 26, 2025, due to an ICC warrant and diplomatic frictions, respectively, underscores India’s diplomatic weight, with Modi’s presence signaling continuity.
The expansion of BRICS to include oil-rich nations like Iran and the UAE, controlling 35% of global oil consumption per an S&P Global analysis from November 2024, strengthens its commodity influence. However, internal divisions, such as Egypt-Ethiopia disputes over the Nile River, reported by the Brookings Institution in October 2024, challenge cohesion. India’s advocacy for multilateralism, rooted in its non-aligned legacy, counters perceptions of BRICS as an anti-Western bloc, a view reinforced by a December 2024 Centre for International Governance Innovation report. By hosting over 100 ministerial meetings in 2025, per Brazil’s February 2025 BRICS website, Brazil has set a precedent for inclusive dialogue, which India aims to replicate in 2026, focusing on artificial intelligence governance and climate finance, where BRICS seeks $1 trillion annually by 2030, per a June 2025 UNCTAD report.
India’s maritime and diplomatic roles converge in its Global South leadership. The INS Tabar operation, coupled with Modi’s five-nation tour, including Ghana and Namibia, as announced by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on June 27, 2025, amplifies India’s outreach to Africa, where trade with BRICS nations reached $200 billion in 2024, per the African Development Bank. This synergy of hard and soft power positions India to shape BRICS’ trajectory, balancing economic cooperation with geopolitical stability in a multipolar world.
BRICS economic impact
The Indian Navy’s rescue operation of the MT Yi Cheng 6 in the Gulf of Oman on July 6, 2025, exemplifies India’s growing maritime influence, a critical component of its economic and geopolitical strategy within the BRICS framework. The Gulf of Oman, handling 20% of global oil transit as per the International Energy Agency’s June 2025 Oil Market Report, is a vital artery for BRICS economies, particularly India, which imported 4.7 million barrels per day in 2024, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The operation, detailed in a July 7, 2025, Indian Ministry of Defence press release, ensured the safety of 14 Indian crew members and stabilized a key trade route, reinforcing India’s role in securing energy supply chains critical to BRICS’ collective economic resilience.
BRICS, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia as of January 2025, accounts for 41% of global GDP at purchasing power parity, per the International Monetary Fund’s April 2025 World Economic Outlook. This share, up from 31.6% in 2022, reflects the bloc’s expanded economic weight following the inclusion of oil-rich nations like Iran and the UAE, which control 18% and 4% of global oil production, respectively, based on 2024 Energy Institute data. The bloc’s GDP growth is projected at 3.4% for 2025, outpacing the global average of 2.8%, driven by Ethiopia (6.6%), India (6.2%), and Indonesia (4.7%), as noted in the IMF’s April 2025 report. This growth underscores BRICS’ role as a counterbalance to the G7, whose GDP share is projected to decline to 28.2% by 2027.
The New Development Bank (NDB), established in 2015 with $50 billion in initial capital, has disbursed $35 billion for 100 infrastructure projects by June 2025, per its 2025 Annual Report. Notably, 30% of these loans are in local currencies, reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar, a priority echoed in a January 2025 speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who emphasized eliminating dollar dependency in trade. The NDB’s focus on sustainable infrastructure, such as India’s $1.2 billion Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway project, enhances intra-BRICS connectivity, facilitating trade that reached $1 trillion in 2024, as stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a June 20, 2025, address at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. However, intra-BRICS trade remains only 5% of members’ total exports, per a December 2024 BRICS Journal of Economics study, limited by heterogeneous economic structures and low trade integration.
The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), with a $100 billion reserve, provides a financial buffer against external shocks, though its $3 billion disbursement since 2014, primarily to South Africa, indicates underutilization, per a June 2025 IMF working paper. The CRA’s potential expansion, advocated by India in a May 2025 Ministry of Finance brief, aims to support newer members like Ethiopia, facing a $1.2 billion balance-of-payment deficit in 2025, per the African Development Bank’s April 2025 Economic Outlook. This financial mechanism complements BRICS’ push for de-dollarization, with China’s yuan accounting for 3% of global trade settlements in 2024, up from 1% in 2020, according to the Bank for International Settlements’ October 2024 report.
The BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation, operational since 2024, enhances economic planning through real-time data on agriculture and disasters. India’s RISAT-1A, per a June 2025 Indian Space Research Organisation report, supports yield monitoring in Ethiopia, where 20 million face food insecurity, per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s May 2025 report. This aligns with Brazil’s 2025 BRICS presidency focus on food security, as articulated in a February 11, 2025, Brazilian government statement, emphasizing sustainable governance.
The 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, hosted on July 6-7, prioritized trade, artificial intelligence, and climate finance, per a June 27, 2025, Indian Ministry of External Affairs statement. India’s advocacy for AI governance, backed by its $600 million AI Mission announced in March 2024, positions it to lead BRICS’ technological agenda, countering China’s dominance in 5G patents, which reached 42% of global filings in 2024, per the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, internal divisions, such as India-China border tensions noted in a March 2025 Carnegie Endowment report, and Egypt-Ethiopia disputes over the Nile, per a October 2024 Brookings Institution analysis, challenge cohesive policy-making.
BRICS’ expansion enhances its commodity influence, with Russia and Brazil supplying 10% and 8% of global energy exports, respectively, per the World Trade Organization’s 2024 data. Yet, the bloc’s push for de-dollarization faces hurdles, as the U.S. dollar still dominates 88% of global transactions, per the SWIFT network’s June 2025 report. U.S. threats of 100% tariffs on BRICS nations, as stated by President Donald Trump in February 2025, per a Council on Foreign Relations analysis, risk escalating trade tensions, potentially increasing U.S. import prices by 5%, according to a March 2025 American Enterprise Institute study.
India’s dual role in maritime security and BRICS diplomacy amplifies its economic impact. Its $200 billion trade with Africa in 2024, per the African Development Bank, and leadership in the BRICS Startup Knowledge Hub, launched January 31, 2025, per Startup India, foster innovation ecosystems. However, BRICS’ heterogeneity—spanning democracies like India and authoritarian regimes like China—limits unified action, as noted in a March 2025 Shanghai Institutes for International Studies report. Despite these challenges, BRICS’ 46% share of global population and 25% of landmass, per a June 2025 Wikipedia entry, positions it to reshape global economic governance incrementally, balancing multipolarity with regional rivalries.
