Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded an intensive diplomatic marathon on Sunday after holding 15 formal bilateral meetings with foreign leaders over three days on the margins of the BRICS Summit, using the gathering in New Delhi to simultaneously engage major powers and deepen India's outreach across the Global South.
The engagements, which began on Friday and continued through the conclusion of the two-day summit on Sunday, brought Modi face to face with leaders from Russia, China, Iran, the Gulf, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Government sources said the Prime Minister also held several informal pull-aside conversations with foreign leaders and representatives of international institutions.
Among the most consequential meetings were those with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, against the backdrop of continuing geopolitical turbulence, the Ukraine conflict, hostilities involving Iran, concerns over energy supplies and an evolving India-China relationship.
But the diplomatic schedule extended considerably beyond the major powers. Modi's meetings with leaders from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, South Africa and several African countries reflected India's attempt to use its BRICS chairship as a platform for a wider diplomatic engagement with emerging economies.
India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13, bringing together the grouping's 11 members and 10 partner countries, along with representatives of international organisations.
Putin, Pezeshkian open diplomatic sprint
Modi's bilateral engagements began on Friday, even before the formal summit proceedings got into full swing, with talks involving Putin and Pezeshkian among the day's most significant meetings.
The meeting with Putin covered the broad India-Russia strategic partnership at a time when Moscow continues to face extensive Western sanctions over the Ukraine war. Energy, defence, trade, investment and connectivity remain important pillars of the relationship, while New Delhi has continued to maintain dialogue with Moscow despite pressure arising from Russia's confrontation with the West.
The Russian leader's presence also gave the two sides another opportunity to examine their expanding economic relationship and longer-term plans for cooperation.
With Pezeshkian, the geopolitical backdrop was even more immediate. India has significant interests in stability in West Asia, not least because of its dependence on imported energy, the presence of millions of Indians in the Gulf and the importance of shipping routes passing through the region.
Connectivity also remains an important part of India-Iran relations, particularly the development of Chabahar port and wider plans to improve India's access to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Eurasia.
Modi also met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as part of Friday's engagements, adding a multilateral dimension to the opening day of his diplomatic schedule.
Xi meeting takes centre stage
The most closely watched engagement came on Saturday when Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping, who travelled to India for the first time since 2019.
The meeting came as New Delhi and Beijing attempt to manage a relationship that was severely damaged by the military confrontation along the Line of Actual Control beginning in 2020.
The two leaders discussed the future trajectory of bilateral ties, with India continuing to emphasise mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests as essential principles for stabilising the relationship.
The interaction was significant not merely because India and China are the two largest countries in BRICS by population and economic weight, but because the bilateral relationship has implications extending across trade, border security and the wider strategic balance in Asia.
Despite political tensions, China remains one of India's largest trading partners, making the economic relationship difficult to separate from the broader strategic competition between the two countries.
The talks therefore provided another high-level opportunity to consolidate the cautious diplomatic thaw while addressing persistent differences.
Gulf and Southeast Asia in focus
Saturday's schedule also reflected India's increasingly important relationships with the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
Modi met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with the two sides discussing cooperation across defence, energy, artificial intelligence, space, critical minerals, food security and connectivity.
The engagement assumed particular importance amid instability in West Asia. India and the UAE have rapidly expanded their strategic and commercial partnership in recent years, and New Delhi views the relationship as an important element of regional economic integration and energy security.
Modi also met Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung as India sought to reinforce its engagement with Southeast Asia.
The region occupies a central position in India's Act East policy and Indo-Pacific strategy. Trade, investment, digital technology, defence cooperation and resilient supply chains have increasingly become important components of India's relationships with Southeast Asian economies.
The Prime Minister also held talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto during his extensive engagement with leaders attending the summit.
Africa gets prominent place
Africa featured prominently in the diplomatic calendar as India sought to reinforce its claim that BRICS should amplify the voice of developing countries rather than function simply as another grouping of major economies.
Modi's engagements included talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, two important African partners of New Delhi.
Egypt has acquired greater importance in India's West Asia and Africa strategy, with the relationship expanding across defence, trade, investment, agriculture and connectivity. South Africa, meanwhile, is both a founding member of the expanded BRICS political framework and one of India's longstanding partners on questions concerning the Global South.
The Prime Minister's schedule also included engagements with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima and Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo.
The concentration of African engagements underscored a diplomatic relationship that New Delhi has sought to deepen through development partnerships, capacity building, digital public infrastructure, healthcare, education, defence and trade.
India had strongly backed the African Union's admission as a permanent member of the G20 during its 2023 presidency, and its BRICS chairship has similarly placed Global South representation at the centre of its diplomatic messaging.
Central Asia, Philippines widen outreach
Central Asia was another component of Modi's Sunday schedule, with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev among the leaders engaged by the Prime Minister.
India has been seeking stronger political, economic and connectivity links with Central Asian countries, although the absence of direct overland access remains a significant obstacle to expanding commerce with the region.
Modi also met Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, adding another Southeast Asian dimension to the diplomatic outreach.
India's relationship with the Philippines has expanded beyond traditional political and commercial ties, with defence cooperation becoming an increasingly visible component of the partnership.
The breadth of these meetings demonstrated that New Delhi was using the presence of BRICS members and partner countries not simply for discussions within the bloc but as an opportunity to pursue multiple bilateral relationships simultaneously.
BRICS becomes stage for bilateral diplomacy
The diplomatic marathon also illustrated how the expansion of BRICS has increased the value of its summits as venues for bilateral diplomacy.
Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS now has 11 full members and 10 partner countries spanning Asia, Africa, West Asia, Eurasia and Latin America.
For India, that expansion creates a complicated but potentially valuable diplomatic platform. Several BRICS members have sharply different relationships with one another and contrasting positions on major geopolitical disputes. New Delhi has sought to navigate those divisions while maintaining partnerships with the United States and Europe and simultaneously preserving longstanding ties with Russia, Iran and developing countries.
The 15 bilateral meetings allowed Modi to pursue that multi-aligned approach across a single diplomatic gathering.
They also gave India an opportunity to advance country-specific priorities — from defence and energy security to trade, investment, connectivity, technology and reform of global institutions — alongside the broader summit discussions.
The scale of the three-day outreach ultimately provided a second track to the BRICS Summit itself: while leaders debated the future direction of the expanded grouping inside the conference halls, New Delhi used the margins to conduct an unusually concentrated round of bilateral diplomacy across some of India's most consequential international relationships.