Talks on BRICS sidelines demonstrate India’s rising influence across Global South
New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) India is forging its own path between non-alignment and alignment, remaining independent of big-power blocs while strengthening its position as a trusted partner for mid-sized countries in security, technology and trade, a report has stated.
The meetings held on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS summit showcased a clear reflection of this approach. The multilateral declaration keeps India firmly within the Global South framework, while bilateral understandings on defence, maritime security and counter-terrorism give that engagement practical depth through Indian equipment, training and operational links, according to a report in India Narrative.
“While the plenary produced a consensus New Delhi Declaration on resilience, innovation, UN reform, and counter-terrorism, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the gathering to lock in concrete defence, technology, and security understandings with African and Asian partners. Meetings with Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed Ali, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo, Burundi’s Evariste Ndayishimiye (as African Union chair), Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim, Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos Jr. placed defence cooperation, technology transfer, maritime safety, and counter-terrorism at the centre of India’s outreach,” the report detailed.
“This is how India practices multi-alignment in practice: keep the multilateral tent broad and non-aligned, then harvest bilateral strategic gains that actually move capability and influence,” it noted.
The report identified maritime security as an underlying pillar of India’s approach. It noted that New Delhi’s vision, MAHASAGAR—Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions—extends the SAGAR doctrine from the immediate Indian Ocean sphere to the broader Global South, connecting naval engagement with intelligence-sharing, capacity enhancement and economic collaboration.
The inaugural Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME 2025), co-hosted by India and Tanzania with the participation of 11 African countries, featured anti-piracy exercises, visit-board-search-and-seizure operations, helicopter manoeuvres and search-and-rescue drills. Meanwhile, India’s Information Fusion Centre–Indian Ocean Region has established dozens of maritime domain-awareness linkages, India Narrative mentioned.
“Western Indian Ocean instability—piracy, Houthi disruptions, jihadist networks, and chokepoint risks at Bab-el-Mandeb and the Mozambique Channel—is not a distant African problem. It is an Indian energy-security and trade problem. Bilateral talks on the BRICS sidelines allowed India to translate that shared vulnerability into practical offers: training, equipment, hydrography, and eventual logistics understandings. This is net-security-provider language made operational, without requiring BRICS consensus that an expanded, internally diverse grouping cannot easily deliver,” it mentioned.
The report said that the New Delhi Declaration adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit marked a multilateral gain for India, with its unequivocal rejection of terrorism in all forms, condemnation of the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, opposition to double standards, and focus on cyber-terrorism, online radicalisation and the misuse of emerging technologies.
“Sideline meetings allowed that language to be operationalised country-by-country. Defence and security discussions with Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and others sit inside a wider pattern of intelligence-sharing, training, and capacity-building against transnational threats that do not respect the neat boundaries of “Asian” versus ‘African’ security,” India Narrative highlighted.
“India’s pitch is consistent: terrorism and maritime disorder are shared problems of the Global South. Solutions should not wait for great-power permission or UN Security Council paralysis,” it added.
–IANS
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