The recent 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 12–13 September 2026 was a major world event where India played a pivotal role. The meeting brought together leaders of eleven BRICS member countries, partner countries and outreach invitees. India assumed the BRICS chairship on 1 January 2026, its fourth chairship after 2012, 2016 and 2021. The year also marked two decades since the establishment of BRICS. India’s theme this year was phenomenal and impactful as well.

 

“Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” This indeed reflected a people-centric approach, rooted in the principle of “Humanity First.”

 

What is interesting to note is that the summit took place against a backdrop of geopolitical crisis especially among major trade routes, economic uncertainty, trade restrictions and debates over the future of multilateral institutions. Indian government identified the strengthening of intra-BRICS cooperation and discussion of global and regional issues as central objectives of the meeting. The outcome of the summit was also very encouraging as it produced the BRICS New Delhi Declaration, which was adopted by consensus. The declaration reaffirmed the principles of sovereign equality, mutual respect, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus. It also welcomed the contribution of partner countries and supported greater engagement with emerging markets and developing countries.

 

The other important milestone achieved by EEPC India again this year was the smooth execution of two flagship expos, ‘Pharmamachtech’ and ‘Labnext,’ that brought many players into the fray and highlighted how this engineering industry sector can reach new heights with a bit of hand holding, specially MSMEs of this sector getting an international platform to perform better with new perspectives. Additionally, there was a delegation to Slovenia which was warmly welcomed and greatly benefitted the visiting Indian Delegation.

 

Overall, India’s engineering export performance during April-July 2026 was driven by broad-based growth across all regions, with the Western Region retaining its leadership position while the Eastern Region demonstrated the strongest pace of expansion. India’s region-wise engineering exports during April-July 2026 registered a strong growth of 18%, increasing to US$ 46.38 billion from US$ 39.24 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

 

Global merchandise trade experienced a significant acceleration in August 2026 – this is explained by the J.P. Morgan–S&P Global Manufacturing PMI New Export Orders Index which increased from 50 in July 2026 to 51.4 in August 2026. This remains the highest reading since July 2021. As per S&P Global, this growth may indicate an expansion of approximately 8% in global merchandise trade compared to 6% in July 2026. The trend is also consistent with India’s engineering export performance which recorded highest monthly as well as cumulative growth in August 2026. This performance despite the renewed logistics disruptions from the West Asia crisis may indicate increasing confidence in the global market.

 

With the onset of the Festive Season and the India Pavilion Planned in MSV Brno and EuroBlech in Germany and Korea Metal Week - all in October, we look forward to a busy diary ahead!