India will hold the BRICS Chairmanship

  

India will hold the BRICS Chairmanship from 1st February to 31 December 2016. During its Chairmanship, India will host the 8th BRICS Summit, bringing together the leaders of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship will be Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies, comprising 43% of the world population, having 37% of the world GDP and 17% share in the world trade.

Seven BRICS Summits have taken place so far - in Ekaterinburg, Russia (2009), Brasilia, Brazil (2010), Sanya, China (2011), New Delhi, India (2012), Durban, South Africa (2013), Fortaleza, Brazil (2014) and Ufa, Russia (2015).

Cooperation within BRICS includes the areas, such as, Trade and Economic, Industry, Finance, Agriculture, Health, Science and Technology, Education, Energy, Migration, ICT, Anti-Drugs, Anti-Corruption, Culture, etc.

BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.The grouping was originally known as "BRIC" before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs; all five are G-20 members. Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia currently holds the chair of the BRICS group, and hosted the group's seventh summit in July 2015.
As of 2015, the five BRICS countries represent over 3 billion people, or 42% of the world population; as all five members are in the top 25 of the world by population, and four are in the top 10. The five nations have a combined nominal GDP of US$16.039 trillion, equivalent to approximately 20% of the gross world product, and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves. The BRICS have received both praise and criticism from numerous commentators.Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit (win-win).It is estimated that the combined GDP (PPP) of BRICS would reach US$50 trillion mark by 2020.

On 15 July, the first day of the BRICS 6th summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, the group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the US$100 billion New Development Bank (formerly known as the "BRICS Development Bank") and a reserve currency pool worth over another US$100 billion. Documents on cooperation between BRICS export credit agencies and an agreement of cooperation on innovation were also inked.