India's trade deficit with the BRICS bloc has more than tripled to $226.1 billion between FY21 and FY26, driven by a significant surge in imports, particularly from China and Russia, outpacing export growth.
Key Points
- India's total goods trade with BRICS nations more than doubled from $203.1 billion in FY21 to $417.5 billion in FY26.
- India's trade deficit with BRICS has more than tripled, rising from $74.5 billion to $226.1 billion, due to imports increasing at a much faster rate than exports.
- The UAE was India's largest export market within BRICS in FY26, while China remained India's largest supplier, with imports doubling to $131.6 billion.
- Imports from Russia increased more than tenfold, from $5.5 billion to $55.4 billion, primarily driven by higher energy purchases.
- GTRI suggests India should seek better market access in China, Russia, and Indonesia, address non-tariff barriers, and promote higher-value exports to correct the growing trade imbalance.
India will host the BRICS summit here on September 12-13, 2026. The country assumed the BRICS Chairship on January 1, 2026, under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
BRICS brings together eleven major emerging and developing economies - Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam participate as the BRICS Partner Countries.
Collectively, BRICS represents around 49 per cent of the world's population, and about 40 per cent of global GDP (PPP).
India's Expanding Trade with BRICS
India's total goods trade with BRICS more than doubled from $203.1 billion in FY21 to $417.5 billion in FY26. India's exports to BRICS increased 48.8 per cent, from $64.3 billion to $95.7 billion.
On the other hand, imports rose 131.8 per cent, from $138.8 billion to $321.8 billion.
"As a result, India's trade deficit with BRICS more than tripled from $74.5 billion to $226.1 billion," according to economic think tank GTRI.
The BRICS share in India's exports fell marginally from 22 per cent to 21.7 per cent.
In contrast, imports increased 131.8 per cent.
This pushed the BRICS share in India's imports sharply higher, from 35.2 per cent to 41.5 per cent, it said.
Key Export Markets and Import Sources
The UAE was India's largest export market within BRICS in FY26, receiving goods worth $37.4 billion, up 124 per cent from FY21.
China ranked second at $19.5 billion.
Other major destinations were Saudi Arabia at $10.3 billion, Brazil and South Africa at $7 billion each, and Russia and Indonesia at $4.5 billion.
India's exports declined to Indonesia, Iran and Ethiopia.
China remained India's largest supplier within BRICS. Imports from China doubled from $65.2 billion to $131.6 billion and accounted for about 41 per cent of India's BRICS imports.
The UAE supplied goods worth $63.9 billion. Imports from Russia increased more than tenfold, from $5.5 billion to $55.4 billion, mainly because of higher energy purchases, GTRI said.
China, the UAE and Russia together accounted for almost 84 per cent of India's imports from BRICS.
Intra-BRICS Trade Dynamics
The GTRI report said that BRICS countries export about $1.1 trillion to one another, equal to 18.8 per cent of their combined global exports.
They imported goods worth $1.4 trillion from fellow BRICS members, representing 29.5 per cent of their global imports.
"Thus, BRICS is more important to its members as a source of imports than as an export market. Intra-BRICS exports account for only 4.1 per cent of world exports, while intra-BRICS imports represent 5.4 per cent of world imports," it said.
In 2025, BRICS countries exported goods worth $5.67 trillion, accounting for 21.6 per cent of world exports of $26.3 trillion.
Their imports totalled $4.58 trillion, or 17.3 per cent of world imports of $26.5 trillion.
The bloc therefore recorded an overall merchandise trade surplus of about $1.09 trillion.
China dominates intra-BRICS trade, exporting $550.8 billion to other members and importing $464.9 billion from them.
Addressing the Imbalance
GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava said for India, the priority should be to correct the growing imbalance.
BRICS is becoming an increasingly important source of machinery, industrial inputs, energy and commodities.
However, it is not absorbing a comparable share of Indian exports, he said.
"India should seek better market access in China, Russia and Indonesia, address non-tariff barriers, promote higher-value exports and reduce excessive dependence on a few BRICS suppliers. Without stronger export growth, deeper intra-BRICS trade could further widen India's already large trade deficit," he added.
