The fact that the Indian government has allowed the bank to be headquartered in Shanghai merely underlines the fact that this will be a largely Chinese enterprise.
India should not stay on the margins of this initiative. There should be a serious debate about what would be in India's best interests asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The opening ceremony was held in China's financial capital.
The BRICS bank is simply too expensive a proposition for a group of developing countries that includes many who are already overspending domestically.
Modi said South America has tremendous potential.
The Enforcement Directorate has reported a staggering 170 per cent surge in asset attachments, reaching 81,422 crore in the last financial year (FY26), underscoring its intensified efforts against financial crimes and its significant role in restituting funds to victims.
United States President Donald Trump has warned that countries aligning with the BRICS economic bloc will face additional 10 per cent tariffs on their goods, as he seeks to protect the dollar's global dominance.
Modi knew in his heart that India does not have the financial muscle to support the new bank with offers of co-financing international projects, something China can do from the bank's base in Shanghai. If established in Mumbai, it may have employed a few Indian bankers and satisfied the national ego but there was little financial value to be drawn from it.
The decision was taken at the BRICS Summit in Durban which also launched a Business Council to encourage investment and trade in member countries and to expand business cooperation.
India emerged reasonably well from 2025. But now, the oil shock and war-related supply disruptions have again driven funds out of India and significantly weakened the rupee, points out Ajay Chhibber.
India's handling of the Iran crisis reflects a growing strain between strategic autonomy and geopolitical alignment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Sheela Bhatt, who traveled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the BRICS Summit in Durban, gauges the buzz ahead of the event that begins Tuesday.
The grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa had in March decided to establish a new development bank -- BRICS Bank -- to finance infrastructure projects and to create a $100 billion contingency fund to tackle any financial crisis in emerging economies.
The NDB will have an initial authorised capital of $100 billion.
Kamath also served on the board of Infosys.
Taking Kharg would give the US control over virtually all of Iran's oil exports and thus provide significant leverage, notes Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War. It would also put American troops within range of Iran's remaining missiles, drones, and artillery on a piece of real estate that is just eight square miles in size, and just 15 miles from the Iranian mainland.
Finance Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, including P Chidambaram, are likely to prepare a report for consideration of their leaders on Wednesday in which they are expected to say that launching a BRICS bank is 'feasible and workable'.
Pravin Gordhan, the finance minister of South Africa, says that in spite of several crucial issues still under debate, the BRICS bank was born today.
This could become tricky territory for India, given its basically adversarial relationship with China, its moves to block imports and investment from that country, and to deny market access for Chinese technologies, observes T N Ninan.
Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said that the country is not pursuing any proposal to replace the US dollar as international currency for global trade. "No, certainly not. I think India is not part of any such initiative," he said in response to a question if India is looking at an alternative currency to the US dollar for global trade.
India supports dialogue and diplomacy and not war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday, in an unambiguous message calling for resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through peaceful negotiations.
The 16th Brics Summit beginning Tuesday in Kazan, Russia, is expected to see more focus on creating a sharper energy policy for Brics that ensures closer partnership among members in both energy security and energy transition, official sources said. The same is expected to be a part of the Kazan declaration, currently being negotiated, they added.
'After the Galwan clash, the rules of engagement changed with the army commanders allowed to use any means at their disposal as they deem fit for tactical operations.'
Under the defence partnership, India and the UAE are eyeing defence industrial collaboration and cooperation in advanced technologies, cyberspace training, special operations, interoperability of their militaries and counter terrorism.
Pakistan has urged India to fully adhere to the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), expressing concerns about the level of detail in flood information shared through diplomatic channels.
The 5-nation BRICS group on signed an agreement to create a $100 billion pool of foreign-exchange reserves to help each other.
Consensus remained elusive on a common BRICS currency as business leaders from the five-bloc nations debated the pivotal issue at a business forum on the periphery of a summit of the five-member bloc being hosted here by South Africa. In their two addresses at the Summit so far, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have made no or scant references to the issue either. "The BRICS Business Forum discussed the international payments system in detail. "Participants also debated the question of whether a BRICS currency is possible or desirable, with strong views expressed both for and against and little consensus reached," Sim Tshabalala, chief executive of Standard Bank Group, told several hundred captains of industry from the partner countries and over 40 other nations across the globe at the Summit.
Self-styled godman Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of molesting 17 women students, has been remanded to judicial custody. Police have added a charge related to threatening a witness.
'Things may get much worse before they get better,' predicts Ajay Chhibber.
BRICS countries, including India, on Thursday voiced concern over the "fragile recovery" of global growth and the potential spillover effects from the "unconventional monetary policies" of the developed countries.
The agenda is to give a concrete shape to a Development Bank and pitch for reforms of the UN Security Council.
India expects to see the bank established as soon as possible.
Earlier, police froze Rs 8 crore linked to Saraswati and parked in multiple bank accounts and fixed deposits.
The Brics Development Bank was mooted at a summit in New Delhi in March this year as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund.
China has expressed its support for Russia's initiative to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) troika, emphasizing its importance for regional and global security and stability.
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to join the grouping.
India would neither succumb to the Americans on issues of national security, such as its defence ties with Russia, nor cede ground on its domestic interests in the agriculture and dairy sectors.
The Summit could look at the possibility of starting credit facility in local currency by the BRICS Bank.
The bank, however, may not start functioning before 2014 and is likely to have substantially less initial paid-up capital than the amount of $240 billion that is doing the rounds currently.
Showing respect to the Indian flag, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday immediately picked up the tricolour placed on stage at a BRICS meeting here to mark the standing place of every leader so as not to step on it.
