India's BRICS Presidency Boosts Global South Agenda

UPI, which began as an Indian payment infrastructure, has become a reference point in conversations about accessible and interoperable digital payments. Its internationalisation has spread, with UPI-based payment services being introduced in countries such as France, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and the UAE.

India's experience provides developing countries with a working example of how digital public systems can be built around everyday economic activity, the article points out.

"The initiative is significant because it moves the conversation from technology as a marker of national prestige to technology as a means of expanding economic participation," the article observes.

The New Development Bank: An Alternative Financing Source

It also underlines that finance is another area where India's BRICS engagement carries wider significance, as for the developing world, the problem is not merely a shortage of investment. It is the cost of accessing it and the difficulty of securing funds for projects that may not offer immediate commercial returns.

The New Development Bank, established by BRICS in 2015, was an important step towards addressing this imbalance. Headquartered in Shanghai, the bank was created to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member countries. Its founding members committed equal initial capital, giving the institution a structure distinct from the voting arrangements of traditional Bretton Woods institutions — the World Bank and the IMF, the article states.

The bank's importance lies in the fact that it creates an additional source of development finance to the World Bank or other development lenders at a time when infrastructure requirements across the Global South remain enormous, the article points out.

India has been one of its principal beneficiaries. NDB financing has supported projects in India, including the Madhya Pradesh Major District Roads Project, which was approved to improve road connectivity and transport infrastructure. Such projects illustrate how the bank's role can extend beyond the language of financial reform to the everyday requirements of development.

Extending Finance Beyond Large Infrastructure

"Yet the larger question remains whether BRICS finance can reach beyond major infrastructure. India's emphasis on MSMEs, investment cooperation and local-currency financing is relevant here. Small businesses are often more exposed to credit constraints and currency volatility than large corporations. Easier access to finance could make a difference to employment, entrepreneurship and local economic activity," the article states.

This serves to provide a BRICS financial agenda that goes beyond large state-backed projects and expands the opportunities available to smaller economic actors to create more jobs and incomes for the poor masses.

The article also highlights that India's BRICS presidency has also sought to place health, agriculture, sustainability and innovation on the agenda — all of which are closely tied to the resilience of societies.

(With inputs from IANS)