PM Modi’s Putin, Xi meetings put India’s BRICS balancing act in focus

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping within a span of 24 hours are putting India’s carefully calibrated foreign policy at the centre of the BRICS summit in New Delhi.

Modi met Putin for 45 minutes at Bharat Mandapam on Friday afternoon, holding detailed discussions on defence, energy, trade and expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.

On Saturday evening, the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit — a closely watched bilateral that could test whether the cautious thaw in India-China relations can move beyond border disengagement towards broader stabilisation.

The two meetings, coming almost back-to-back, underline the diplomatic balancing act confronting New Delhi. India is seeking to deepen its longstanding strategic partnership with Moscow while simultaneously working to stabilise ties with Beijing, without allowing either relationship to dictate its larger foreign policy choices.

Xi’s visit is particularly significant as it is his first trip to India in seven years. Meetings between the leaders of the world’s two most populous nations have been relatively infrequent, and each encounter carries the weight of unresolved border tensions, military concerns and an increasingly uneven economic relationship.

This time, however, there is another major issue on the table — trade.

India’s trade deficit with China has widened dramatically since 2019, rising from around $11 billion to approximately $112 billion. The overall bilateral trade stood at about $127.7 billion in 2024-25, with India seeking greater access for its pharmaceuticals, information technology and agricultural products in the Chinese market.

Sources have indicated that a strategic economic dialogue between the two leaders is likely to address the widening imbalance and the difficulties faced by Indian companies seeking access to China.

The leaders are also expected to take stock of recent discussions on the border, including talks held in Beijing last month between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The outcome of the Modi-Xi meeting could therefore determine whether the gradual improvement in ties seen since the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan can develop into a more sustained engagement.

Deepening the Russia partnership

Modi’s meeting with Putin, meanwhile, reaffirmed the depth of the India-Russia relationship at a time of major geopolitical realignment.

The two leaders reiterated their ambition to take bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, with industrial cooperation, railways, steel and improved market access for Indian products identified as areas for greater engagement.

Civil nuclear cooperation also figured in the discussions, including the possibility of additional reactors and broader collaboration.

Energy remains another important pillar of the relationship. India continues to rely on Russian crude oil flows as an important component of its energy security, making the economic relationship with Moscow particularly consequential.

Putin, addressing the BRICS Business Forum after his meeting with Modi, said the global economy was undergoing profound structural changes, with new centres of growth emerging and reshaping the international order.

For India, the challenge is to translate this changing global landscape into tangible economic and strategic gains without compromising its policy independence.

Security of trade routes

The safety of global shipping also featured prominently in Modi’s remarks at the business forum.

The Prime Minister stressed that international trade cannot expand unless shipping routes remain secure, supply chains stay open and seafarers are protected.

India, he said, remains a strong supporter of freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers, while maintaining that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only way forward in resolving conflicts.

The emphasis has a direct human dimension for India. In July, Indian sailors were among those killed after a Russian missile struck a merchant vessel departing Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa.

The incident has highlighted the vulnerability of Indian seafarers caught in conflicts far from home, even as India remains deeply connected to global shipping and supply chains.

Modi and Putin also exchanged views on conflicts in West Asia, including the US-Israel war on Iran, as well as the continuing war in Ukraine and developments in the Black Sea region.

India seeks a stronger BRICS role

As the 2026 BRICS chair, India is seeking to give the grouping a more practical economic and strategic focus.

New Delhi is pushing cooperation in areas such as trade, finance, energy, critical minerals and resilient supply chains rather than allowing BRICS to be defined primarily as an anti-Western platform.

Russia’s support will be important to advancing that agenda, particularly as India attempts to expand economic cooperation within the grouping while preserving its strategic autonomy.

The presence of Putin and Xi in Delhi also gives India an opportunity to position itself as an independent centre of influence in an increasingly fragmented global order.

The border remains the test

For the Modi-Xi meeting, however, the India-China border will remain the most sensitive issue.

The two sides are expected to review the latest boundary discussions and consider ways to move forward on what has been described as an “early and substantial harvest” of progress in boundary delimitation and border management.

For New Delhi, improved ties with Beijing cannot be separated from the question of peace and stability along the border.

Economic engagement, too, is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from strategic concerns. While India wants greater access for its businesses in China, the widening trade deficit has become a persistent concern.

The Modi-Xi meeting therefore carries expectations well beyond the optics of a leaders’ handshake.

A test of strategic autonomy

Taken together, Modi’s meetings with Putin and Xi offer a snapshot of India’s broader foreign policy approach: engage widely, protect national interests and avoid being locked into any one geopolitical camp.

With Russia, the priorities are defence, energy, nuclear cooperation and trade.

With China, the immediate concerns are border stability, economic balance and market access.

And through BRICS, India is attempting to turn its relationships with major powers into practical cooperation while strengthening its voice in a rapidly changing global order.

The success of that strategy will depend not simply on diplomatic symbolism but on whether India can convert these high-level engagements into concrete outcomes — safer borders, more balanced trade, secure energy supplies and stronger economic opportunities.

For New Delhi, the meetings with Putin and Xi are therefore about more than bilateral ties. They are a test of how effectively India can navigate a world in which old alliances are shifting, new power centres are emerging and strategic autonomy is becoming increasingly difficult — but increasingly important — to preserve.