What is BRICS Summit 2026? It is the 18th meeting of BRICS leaders, hosted by India at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September 2026, with Putin, Xi Jinping and eight other leaders in town. Find out how this affects your remittance from abroad.
What is BRICS Summit 2026 and who is actually in Delhi?
BRICS began as a banker’s acronym and turned into a club. NDTV‘s fact file dates the first foreign ministers’ meeting to the UN General Assembly in 2006 and the first leaders’ summit to Yekaterinburg in 2009. Seventeen summits later it is India’s turn as chair, under the theme Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability, which is the sort of phrase that only exists so the initials spell the club’s name.
Vladimir Putin’s Il-96 landed at Palam Air Force Station on the morning of 11 September 2026, where Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh was there to welcome him. This is Putin’s first in-person BRICS summit outside Russia since February 2022. Delhi has also been taking the security side of things very seriously, with around 15,000 Delhi Police personnel, 200 companies of paramilitary forces and more than 500 cameras reportedly deployed across the city.For a two-day summit, Delhi is taking no chances when it comes to security.
| Leader in Delhi | Country | Status in BRICS |
|---|---|---|
| Narendra Modi, host | India | Founding member, 2026 chair |
| Vladimir Putin | Russia | Founding member |
| Xi Jinping | China | Founding member |
| Cyril Ramaphosa | South Africa | Member since 2010 |
| Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | Egypt | Member since January 2024 |
| Masoud Pezeshkian | Iran | Member since January 2024 |
| Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | United Arab Emirates | Member since January 2024 |
| Abiy Ahmed | Ethiopia | Member since January 2024 |
| Prabowo Subianto | Indonesia | Member since January 2025 |
| Anwar Ibrahim | Malaysia | Partner country |
| Le Minh Hung | Vietnam | Partner country |
The attendance list above is compiled from Onmanorama and the summit’s own record, checked on 11 September 2026. Brazil’s president is the notable absence among the founders in every list we read.
How many BRICS countries are there, really?
Ten or eleven, and the sources disagree, so here is the disagreement rather than a tidy number. The membership list and the official BRICS websites count eleven full members, with Saudi Arabia among them. The summit record counts ten and leaves Saudi Arabia out. The kingdom was invited in 2023, and its economy minister said it was still assessing the invitation, as Reuters reported in January 2025. Everybody agrees on ten partner countries: Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Why this matters to a reader of this site: the payment arrangements below are negotiated member by member, so a country that has not decided whether it is in the club has not decided whether its banks are in the plumbing either.
Why did Modi hand Putin a Tamil book?
At the bilateral meeting on 11 September, Modi gave Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, the Tamil classic of 1,330 couplets on ethics, governance and the conduct of life, as the Free Press Journal reported. It is a gift with a point. The Thirukkural has a whole section on the duties of a ruler, and handing it to a head of state in his own language is a compliment with a footnote. For the Tamil reader it is also the second time in a year the text has turned up at the centre of national events, and this time it travelled further than Delhi.
Kya BRICS se aapki foreign payment sasti hogi?
This is the question that matters if you invoice a client in Dubai, Jakarta or Moscow, so here is exactly what has been agreed and exactly what has not.
The joint statement of the BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, who met in Jaipur on 12 and 13 August and again in Mumbai on 10 September, asked the BRICS Payment Task Force to keep working on cross-border payments that are, in the statement’s words, fast, low-cost, more accessible, efficient, transparent and safe. They discussed coordination between payment and messaging channels and the possibility of settling trade and investment in local currencies. They encouraged the New Development Bank to lend more in local currencies. Read that again and notice the verbs: encouraged, discussed, examined. Nothing in it moves a rupee on Monday.
BRICS Pay, the thing the headlines usually mean, is not a summit product at all. BRICS Pay’s own site says it was launched in 2018 through the BRICS Business Council, that at launch it works in Russia for foreign tourists, and that country expansion follows a 2026 to 2027 roadmap. Its own India page says India participates carefully. So the rail an Indian freelancer could invoice through does not exist yet, and the people building it say so.
| Way to get paid from a BRICS country today | What it actually does | Checked 11 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Wise to your UPI ID | Up to Rs 2,00,000 per transfer, usually one working day after conversion, not for investment or donations | Wise’s INR transfer guide |
| Wise from a client in Russia | Not available. Accounts registered in Russia were closed in May 2022 and incoming payments are rejected | Wise closed all accounts registered in Russia |
| Special Rupee Vostro Account | Bank to bank settlement of trade in rupees; balance freely repatriable; exchange rate market determined | Reserve Bank of India |
| BRICS Pay | Pilot for foreign tourists paying in Russia; expansion on a 2026 to 2027 roadmap | BRICS Pay’s own site |
| PayPal, Payoneer, Skydo and the rest | The rails people actually use, compared in our own guide | PayPal vs Payoneer vs Wise |
What does the rupee settlement route let you do today?
The Reserve Bank of India has allowed international trade to be invoiced and settled in rupees since July 2022, through Special Rupee Vostro Accounts that foreign banks hold with Indian banks. The balance is freely repatriable, surplus rupees can go into government securities, and since August 2025 a bank no longer needs the RBI’s permission to open one. The RBI’s FAQ describes the mechanism in terms of exporters and importers and does not mention service exporters at all, so whether your foreign client can route a design invoice through it is a question for the client’s bank, not a promise this article can make. Our note on FIRA and eFIRA explains what your bank will ask for when the money lands, whichever route it took.
What do Indian freelancers report about getting paid right now?
We read three recent threads, one on r/IndiaTax thread from August 2026, one on r/FreelanceIndia thread from May 2026 and one on r/selfemployed thread from early September 2026, around 40 comments in all. These are what individual people report, not a measurement of any platform.
The pattern is consistent. Nobody in any of the three threads mentions a BRICS rail, a rupee vostro account or a client in a BRICS country paying in local currency. The August thread opens with a developer complaining that PayPal’s fees and forex markup eat a real chunk of each payment and asking what people actually use. Replies name Skydo at a flat $19 per payment, two half-percent Indian platforms with next-day credit, and one account of losing 3 to 4 per cent for years on a payroll tool before switching. The May thread is beginners being told to keep it simple, with one reply pointing out that a client can send straight to a UPI ID through Wise.
Two things cut against the pattern. Several of the recommendations carry referral links, and one poster discloses working for the platform they recommend, so read that thread as a marketplace as much as a forum. And in the September thread a reply suggests buying Bitcoin with the dollars and selling it for rupees, which in India means a 30 per cent tax on the gain and 1 per cent deducted at source, as our captcha earnings article spells out. The accounts and the official picture agree on the main point: the fee you lose today is set by which rail you pick, not by anything decided at Bharat Mandapam.
Is India really trying to ditch the dollar?
No, and the government has said so in plain words. When the incoming US president threatened 100 per cent tariffs on BRICS countries that moved away from the dollar, as Akashvani reported, Jaishankar’s reply was that India has never been for de-dollarisation, that there is no proposal for a BRICS currency, and that the United States is India’s largest trading partner. At the BRICS Business Forum on 11 September the language was about resilience and making cross-border business easier, not about replacing anything. The NDTV coverage this week carries Putin’s dig that G7’s share of world GDP has slipped while BRICS’ has risen, and Iran’s president pushing local currencies and a 10 billion dollar reinsurance fund. Those are two members’ wishes. India’s stated position is narrower, and India holds the chair.
Delhi mein ho toh airport aur traffic ka kya scene hai?
Written straight, because it affects real journeys. Deccan Chronicle reports that special airspace measures run from 1:30 am UTC on 11 September to 5:30 pm UTC on 13 September, which is 7 am to 11 pm Indian time on the respective days. Normal scheduled airline flights at Indira Gandhi International Airport continue, with height restrictions in the 300 km zone. Safdarjung Airport and the Rohini helipad are closed for the period. If you are flying, check your airline’s app on the day rather than assuming a cancellation. On the roads, Onmanorama reports nearly 4,800 traffic personnel deployed around the summit routes, so allow extra time near Pragati Maidan.
What should you watch for on 13 September?
The leaders’ declaration lands on the second day. Three lines in it would actually change something for an online earner in India, and we will update this page on the Sunday refresh once the text is out. First, any named date for BRICS Pay expanding beyond tourists in Russia. Second, any mention of the rupee vostro route being opened to services rather than goods. Third, any UPI acceptance deal with a member that does not already have one. Everything else in the document, and there will be a great deal else, is diplomacy. Worth reading, not worth changing your invoice template for.
If you are setting up to get paid from abroad for the first time, start with how to receive foreign payments in India, then the GST letter of undertaking once the invoices are real.
Frequently asked questions
What is BRICS Summit 2026 in one line?
The 18th annual meeting of BRICS leaders, hosted by India as 2026 chair at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September 2026, with the leaders of Russia, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Ethiopia and Indonesia attending alongside partner countries.
BRICS mein kaun kaun se countries hain?
Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia are members on every list. Saudi Arabia appears on the official lists but has said it is still assessing the invitation, so honest sources say ten or eleven. Ten partner countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam sit one rung below.
Where is the BRICS summit 2026 being held?
At Bharat Mandapam, the convention centre in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the same venue India used for the 2023 G20 summit. Leaders are staying in the city’s larger hotels under a security cordon of roughly 15,000 Delhi Police and 200 companies of paramilitary forces.
Kya BRICS Pay se ab client seedha rupee mein pay kar sakta hai?
Nahi, not yet. BRICS Pay’s own site says it currently works for foreign tourists paying inside Russia and that other countries follow a 2026 to 2027 roadmap. There is no BRICS Pay option an Indian freelancer can put on an invoice today. Wise to a UPI ID, Payoneer, Skydo and a plain bank wire remain the working routes.
Will Delhi airport be closed during the BRICS summit?
No. Normal scheduled airline flights continue at Indira Gandhi International Airport, subject to height restrictions in a 300 km zone from 7 am on 11 September to 11 pm on 13 September Indian time. Safdarjung Airport and the Rohini helipad are closed for the period. Check your airline on the day.
Why did Modi gift Putin the Thirukkural?
The Thirukkural is a Tamil classic of 1,330 couplets on ethics and statecraft, and a Russian translation of it was presented at the Modi and Putin bilateral on 11 September 2026. It is a cultural gift with a diplomatic edge: the text has a whole section on how a ruler should govern.
Leave a Reply