Russian President Vladimir Putin is in New Delhi to attend the 18th summit of BRICS nations starting Friday.
Putin held a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the afternoon at the Bharat Mandapam convention center. He is also expected to hold talks with other leaders of the extended BRICS group.
The summit of the leaders of the world’s emerging economies is being watched closely, given intensifying geopolitical tensions and economic turbulence caused by the West’s attempts to isolate Russia and coerce the Global South.
RT reporters are on the ground in New Delhi covering the Russian president's visit and the BRICS Summit.
11 September 2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are on the stage at the BRICS Business Forum. It is the largest business forum of the BRICS grouping ever, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal says.
After the visit to INNOPROM. India, Putin will now address the BRICS Business Forum at the same convention center. Other national leaders who are in New Delhi for the BRICS summit are also arriving at the center to attend the forum.
Modi is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian after this.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are now touring INNOPROM. India, Russia’s international industrial fair being held in India for the first time. More than 120 Russian and Indian companies are present at the event, organized as part of an effort to expand bilateral trade and investment.
The Putin-Modi meeting took place at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, where the INNOPROM. India trade fair is ongoing.
The meeting was their second in less than two weeks, after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31.
Modi and Putin have now left Bharat Mandapam and are traveling back in the same car.
Modi presented Putin with the Thirukkural, a classical Tamil text of 1,330 short, two-line poetic couplets, written by the poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar.
The much-awaited Modi-Putin meeting is on!
RT Hindi went live earlier this week, nine months after RT India launched its English-language television channel. The charge d’affaires at the Russian Embassy in New Delhi, Roman Babushkin, listed artificial intelligence, the Arctic, and space as priority areas for deeper bilateral cooperation, beyond the traditional pillars of defense and energy. And Babushkin did this while speaking Hindi!
Modi and Putin are expected to discuss progress toward the ambitious $100 billion bilateral trade target they set in December, sources told RT. They are also expected to discuss strengthening civil nuclear cooperation, mobility for skilled Indian workers in Russia, cooperation in critical minerals, and sustaining the growing cooperation on fertilizers. The meeting will take place soon.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for stronger cooperation among countries of the Global South, ahead of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Official news agency Xinhua said he is expected to advance proposals on Global South cooperation at the summit.
India doesn’t believe that BRICS is an anti-West group, opposition lawmaker Shashi Tharoor told RT India. “That is a position the other members are bound to understand,” he said.
Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov has told RT that sanctions cannot stop Russia from developing its industrial and technological potential.
”Following the imposition of sanctions, we have undertaken significant work on import substitution and the development of domestic aircraft manufacturing,” he said.
Alikhanov also discussed plans to expand Russia-India cooperation, including joint aircraft production, engine manufacturing, and efforts to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030.
Indian miniature sculptor K. Bijay Kumar Reddy has created 1-centimeter chalk portraits of BRICS leaders ahead of the summit in New Delhi, along with a 5-millimeter version of the bloc’s logo.
BRICS economies can deepen trade and investment by using national currencies more widely, strengthening banking links, and improving risk-management frameworks, according to trade and finance experts cited by ANI news agency.
The experts also called for reducing non-tariff barriers through harmonized standards, mutual recognition of certifications, simpler customs procedures, and greater regulatory transparency, arguing that such measures could support intra-BRICS trade and more resilient supply chains.
This is the 18th summit of the BRICS nations. The BRICS grouping has grown considerably from its original five members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It now also includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia.
BRICS has emerged as a major grouping because of its economic weight and population size. Together, they now account for nearly half of the world’s population, around 40% of global GDP, and 26% of international trade, according to Indian government data.
Here is a quick look at who’s attending and what’s on the agenda.
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin in New Delhi on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit.
Uruguay holds the rotating presidency of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). India and Uruguay have stepped up engagement in recent months, with New Delhi appointing its first resident ambassador to Uruguay earlier this year.
In a sign of how bilateral economic ties are expanding beyond energy, Russian aviation companies stole the show at INNOPROM. India, the first Indian edition of Russia’s flagship international industrial exhibition.
Russian plane maker UAC on Thursday reached agreements with three Indian domestic airlines to sell up to 105 Il-114-300 regional jets. Plans to jointly produce the planes are also progressing.
UAC and India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited are also negotiating the localization and production of SJ-100 regional jets, UAC CEO Vadim Badekha said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has arrived in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit, marking the first visit to India by an Iranian president since 2018. Pezeshkian is set to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Friday.
The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek on August 31, where they discussed bilateral ties, trade, developments in the Middle East, and cooperation within BRICS and the SCO. The Iranian leader is also expected to take part in the BRICS Business Forum.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met in New Delhi to discuss financial cooperation, with a focus on maintaining stable payment and settlement mechanisms to support growth in trade, investment, and broader economic ties.
The two sides also discussed preparations for an intergovernmental agreement aimed at promoting and protecting investments between Russia and India.
The India-Russia priority investment tracking mechanism is actively monitoring 40 projects across advanced manufacturing, energy, mining, railways, and emerging technology, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal told the plenary session of the INNOPROM. India trade fair on Thursday in New Delhi.
This is progress toward the $50 billion investment target.
In December, when Putin last visited New Delhi, the leaders set two hard growth targets – corporate style – for the relationship: $100 billion in trade by 2020, and $50 billion in investments.
Trade turnover has since grown, Putin said last month. “It is rising this year, and this is due in part – and perhaps above all – to the efforts of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, who gives the development of Russian-Indian relations close personal attention,” Putin told Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in Moscow.
The Modi-Putin meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
The relationship has grown beyond energy, defense, and space, to industrial cooperation and joint production, AI, labor mobility, and tourism.
And geopolitics is unavoidable, considering the current state of the world.
Here is a deeper look at the issues likely to come up in the talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in New Delhi for a three-day visit to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in the Indian capital.
Putin’s plane touched down early on Friday, and he was welcomed by an honor guard before leaving the airport in his Aurus presidential limousine.
His flight was preceded by three Russian IL-76 planes, carrying advance teams and military officials to review preparations and security arrangements, which landed on Thursday morning.