BRICS trade boom has a $226 billion hole for India
Live Events China, UAE and Russia drive the imbalance BRICS is a global trade powerhouse, but barely trades within itself China sits at the centre
Live Events China, UAE and Russia drive the imbalance BRICS is a global trade powerhouse, but barely trades within itself China sits at the centre of BRICS trade as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel India’s trade with BRICS has more than doubled in five years, but imports have raced far ahead of exports, pushing the country’s trade deficit with the grouping to $226.1 billion in FY2026, more than three times the $74.5 billion recorded in FY2021, according to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).The imbalance has become increasingly stark. BRICS countries now account for 41.5% of India’s total merchandise imports, up from 35.2% in FY2021, while their share in India’s exports has slipped marginally from 22% to 21.7%.India’s total goods trade with the 11-member grouping surged from $203.1 billion in FY2021 to $417.5 billion in FY2026. But beneath that doubling lies a widening gap: exports to BRICS increased 48.8% from $64.3 billion to $95.7 billion, while imports jumped 131.8% from $138.8 billion to $321.8 billion.In other words, BRICS has become much more important to India as a source of goods than as a market for Indian goods.The trend is particularly significant because India's exports to BRICS have not kept pace with its shipments elsewhere.
Exports to the rest of the world grew 52% to $345.8 billion between FY2021 and FY2026, slightly faster than the 48.8% growth recorded with BRICS.Imports tell the opposite story. India’s purchases from countries outside BRICS rose 77.6% to $453.9 billion, considerably slower than the 131.8% surge in imports from BRICS.Much of India's BRICS import bill is concentrated in just three countries.China, the UAE and Russia together accounted for almost 84% of India’s imports from BRICS in FY2026, with China alone responsible for about 41%.Imports from China more than doubled from $65.2 billion in FY2021 to $131.6 billion in FY2026. Indian exports to China, meanwhile, moved in the other direction, declining 8.1% from $21.2 billion to $19.5 billion.Russia saw the most dramatic increase. Indian imports from the country rose more than tenfold from $5.5 billion to $55.4 billion, driven mainly by higher energy purchases. Indian exports to Russia increased from about $2.7 billion to $4.5 billion over the same period.The UAE was the largest destination for Indian exports within BRICS in FY2026. Shipments rose 124% to $37.4 billion, while imports from the UAE climbed 140% to $63.9 billion.Saudi Arabia was India's next-largest BRICS export market at $10.3 billion, followed by Brazil and South Africa at around $7 billion each.
Russia and Indonesia received about $4.5 billion each. Exports to Indonesia, Iran and Ethiopia declined compared with FY2021.Beyond India, the report points to a wider contradiction within BRICS: the grouping has enormous weight in world commerce, but trade among its own members remains relatively small.The 11 BRICS economies — Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE — exported $5.67 trillion worth of goods in 2025, accounting for 21.6% of global merchandise exports. Their imports totalled $4.58 trillion, or 17.3% of world imports, giving the bloc an overall merchandise trade surplus of about $1.09 trillion.Yet BRICS countries export only around $1.1 trillion to one another, equivalent to 18.8% of their combined exports. They import around $1.4 trillion from fellow members, representing 29.5% of their overall imports.Measured against world trade, intra-BRICS exports account for just 4.1% of global exports, while intra-BRICS imports make up 5.4% of global imports.Even the trade taking place within BRICS is heavily skewed towards one country.China exported $550.8 billion worth of goods to other BRICS members and imported $464.9 billion from them. India, meanwhile, recorded the largest trade deficit within the grouping at $226.1 billion.GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava said that intra-BRICS trade resembles a China-centred hub-and-spoke pattern rather than a balanced trading network, with considerable room to expand commerce through better market access, lower trade barriers, improved logistics, local-currency settlements and more diversified supply chains.But for India, simply increasing trade within BRICS may not be enough.
The bigger challenge is ensuring that exports catch up with imports.GTRI 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, it cautioned, deeper intra-BRICS trade could further widen India's already large deficit.The BRICS deficit is part of a broader trade imbalance. India’s global merchandise exports increased from $291.8 billion in FY2021 to $441.5 billion in FY2026, while imports rose from $394.4 billion to $775.7 billion, widening the country’s overall goods trade deficit from $102.6 billion to $334.3 billion.GTRI’s India-BRICS figures are based on DGCIS data. Its intra-BRICS estimates use the latest WITS data available for individual economies, with reference years varying between 2020 and 2025 depending on the country.
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