Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

At the invitation of Russian President <keyword id="19900702" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vladimir-putin" source="keywords">Vladimir Putin</keyword>, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President <keyword id="19946362" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping" source="keywords">Xi Jinping</keyword> will attend the 16th <keyword id="21003379" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BRICS-summit" source="keywords">BRICS Summit</keyword> in Kazan, Russia, from October 22-23, 2024. The summit will focus on the theme "Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security," providing a key platform for leaders to discuss pressing global issues and explore opportunities for collaboration. The <keyword id="20037428" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BRICS" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BRICS" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="BRICS">BRICS</keyword> group, originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India, and China in 2006, has grown to include South Africa, and recently expanded further to welcome Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, making it a 10-member bloc. <keyword id="19911498" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Putin" source="keywords">Putin</keyword> sees this <keyword id="23595116" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="expanded-BRICS" source="keywords">expanded BRICS</keyword> as a counterweight to Western dominance in global politics and trade. During his visit, <keyword id="19899320" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PM-Modi" source="keywords">PM Modi</keyword> is expected to hold bilateral meetings with fellow BRICS leaders and other invited representatives, aiming to strengthen partnerships and advance shared objectives. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs emphasised that the summit will offer a valuable opportunity to evaluate the progress of BRICS initiatives and identify new areas for future collaboration. Modi's visit to Russia follows an informal meeting with Putin in Moscow earlier this year and a call in August, where the Indian leader urged for a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. The upcoming summit highlights the growing <keyword id="23595115" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="geopolitical-significance" source="keywords">geopolitical significance</keyword> of BRICS in reshaping global dynamics. (With inputs from sources)

PM Modi to meet Putin and Xi Jinping at BRICS summit in Russia on October 22-23

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.</li><li>Putin is touting trade in local currencies, a move away from the US dollar.</li></ul>Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting a major summit with over 20 world leaders, whom he's trying to convince to ditch the dollar.De-dollarization is one of Putin's priorities because trading in local currencies means that a heavily sanctioned Russia would not be beholden to the Western US dollar-dominated global financial order.But it's not easy to move away from the greenback. BRICS' summit organizers have advised foreign attendees to bring cash — specifically, US dollars and euros — to the event, in the Russian city of Kazan.Most Russian banks will only take US dollars or euros — which Moscow has deemed "toxic currencies" — to exchange for rubles, according to a guide on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://brics-russia2024.ru/en/summit/participants/cards/">summit's website.</a>Going cashless isn't an option, since it's not possible to use Mastercard or Visa cards issued outside Russia in the country. The two card issuers <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/visa-mastercard-suspend-operations-in-russia-amid-ukraine-invasion-2022-3">halted local operations</a> days after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.China's Union Pay cards may be used — "but with restrictions," per the guide.Attendees may apply for Russia's Mir payment card — and there's a bank at Kazan's international airport to get a card, exchange currency, and withdraw cash.These issues with payments not only undermine the bluster of the BRICS group's call to de-dollarize, but they also underscore the immense challenge BRICS would have to unseat King Dollar, which is firmly entrenched in the global financial order.The group of emerging nations anchored by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is not giving up.On Tuesday, Putin again touted the use of local currencies on the sidelines of the summit's first day."The growth of payments in local currencies makes it possible to reduce the debt service fee, increase the financial independence of BRICS member countries, and also to mitigate geopolitical risks to the greatest extent possible and, as much as possible in the current world, separate economic development from politics," Putin said on Tuesday at a meeting with Dilma Rousseff, the president of the BRICS New Development Bank, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://tass.com/world/1859601">Russia's TASS state news agency.</a><h2 id="49d28f59-3027-4723-802e-f105b909d1c0">Putin caps a social year with BRICS summit</h2>Putin is also hobnobbing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South Africa's president, and the UN Secretary-General at the summit this week. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva canceled his trip after a fall at home.The BRICS summit is larger this year because the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brics-summit-countries-interested-brazil-russia-india-china-south-africa-2023-8">West-weary</a> group has welcomed the new members of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates over the past year. Saudi Arabia has been invited but has not formally joined the club.Russia is the BRICS chair this year, so a bigger summit is a feather in the cap for Putin, who has had a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-asia-countries-flaunt-russia-putin-diplomacy-relationship-brics-2024-9">busy social calendar</a> this year, even though Russia and the Russian leader himself have been heavily sanctioned.Before the BRICS summit, Putin was already globetrotting and socializing with top leaders from Asian countries including <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-bromance-xi-jinping-display-china-remains-wary-russia-2024-5">China,</a> <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-india-modi-putin-hug-west-isolation-big-blow-2024-7">India,</a> <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vietnam-russia-putin-visit-us-wary-manufacturing-supply-chain-diplomacy-2024-6">Vietnam,</a> and <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/74678">Indonesia.</a>Despite the BRICS' interest in reshaping the world order, the group is fraught with rivalries and competing interests that it first has to overcome, analysts told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-hosts-brics-summit-defy-west-us-economy-china-dollar-2024-10">Business Insider.</a>"Behind the rhetoric, there's a huge concern — even within Russia — whether the new members will become their equals," said Evgeny Roshchin, a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, at a press briefing held by the Center for European Policy Analysis on Monday.

Putin's dollar problem is on clear display at the BRICS summit, starting with the moment guests land at the airport

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A huge Russian attack hit multiple sites in Ukraine, including a children's hospital. </li><li>The attack came just before a major NATO summit where a big topic is support for Ukraine.</li></ul>Russia's deadly strikes on Ukraine just days before the NATO summit, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-changed-tactics-missile-attack-hit-childrens-hospital-analysts-2024-7">including an attack on a children's hospital</a>, have blown up in its face, stirring outrage in Ukraine, gaining international media attention, and fueling support from partner nations at a time when war fatigue threatens Kyiv's fight.Monday's attack was one of the worst against Ukraine in months. It destroyed part of the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv, the capital, where children get cancer treatment and organ transplants, and sites in other cities. Ukraine said the attack killed at least 41 people and injured 166 more.The attack aggressively highlighted Ukraine's critical need for air defenses, something for which it has been begging Western partners.Russia's attack was met with more attention than most recent developments in Ukraine, and viral images spread of injured and bloodied children and searches in the rubble.<div type="image" title="Emergency officials and civilians conduct search and rescue operations among the rubble of Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital" height="1333" width="2000" msid="111641063" hostid="261" sizebytes="314508"></div>"Russia's missile strikes that today killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and caused damage and casualties at Kyiv's largest children's hospital are a horrific reminder of Russia's brutality," US President Joe Biden said afterward.Biden said at the NATO summit Tuesday that a number of alliance members will send Ukraine dozens of air defense systems, including at least four more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/patriot-performance-in-ukraine-dispels-doubts-over-abilities-experts-2024-3">Patriot systems</a>, in the coming months.While such an announcement would have been long in the works, the timing of Russia's attack one day before NATO's biggest event massively highlighted Ukraine's need at a key time when the alliance will be weighing next steps, potentially solidifying its convictions.<h2 id="f1f25988-bbde-4c45-b294-de5cba69cbad">Air defense priorities</h2>The annual NATO summit kicked off in Washington, DC, on Tuesday with leaders of the 75-year-old Western military alliance gathering to discuss its priorities, including Ukraine.Ukraine's primary aim for this summit was to secure more air defenses. The missile attacks the day before underscored that need, just before NATO's biggest gathering of the year, where Ukraine and its partners can meet, negotiate, and strike deals.The deadly Russian missile attack saw child cancer patients evacuated<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/rescuers-search-rubble-of-kyiv-childrens-hospital-after-russian-missile-attack-in-ukraine"> and moved with medical tubes still in their bodies</a>. Rescue workers and volunteers were seen digging through the post-strike debris. Ukraine's presidential office shared an <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/suspilnenews/35188">image</a> of a child, awake in a woman's arms, with a head injury of some kind and covered in blood and dust.<div type="image" title="Two women sit and hold young children on their lap. One child has tubes in their body" height="1332" width="2000" msid="111641059" hostid="261" sizebytes="224834"></div>Rajan Menon, a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, said Russia's strikes had "backfired" by highlighting how badly Ukraine needs more air defenses.He said that because one of the sites struck was a children's hospital, it drew far more attention to Russia's attacks and Ukraine's needs. Ukraine's cities have long been bombarded, but this particular tragedy triggered new outrage. "The nature of the site and the nature of the occupants made a very big difference," Menon said.Ukraine has issued a challenge to its international partners in the wake of the attack, demanding more than just air defenses.Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said that the Russian missile attack and its timing were meant to show that even with children being killed, the alliance will not do everything necessary to help Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say allies need to drop restrictions on hitting military targets inside Russia, where many attacks originate, and give Ukraine additional support.<h2 id="54e91be7-7131-47f1-b624-7936558d9d14">Highlighting Ukraine's needs</h2>One of Russia's more brutal tactics <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-did-russia-invade-ukraine-putin-politics-motive-2023-6">in its invasion</a> has been to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities far from the front lines in the country's east. Those attacks have killed civilians and destroyed power infrastructure and residential and medical buildings.Ukraine has been asking for more help from allies throughout Russia's invasion and has received many systems from the West. But Ukraine has repeatedly said it needs more, though those requests rarely make international headlines anymore.<div type="image" title="Ukraine supports hold up hand-painted signs demanding NATO take action after Russia's strike" height="1334" width="2000" msid="111641066" hostid="261" sizebytes="161166"></div>Now, more than two years into the war, many of Russia's missile attacks no longer draw huge international reactions. But this week's attack was different. World leaders, including the EU's foreign policy chief and the head of the UN, publicly condemned the attacks.Menon said that this attack had "without question" drawn more public attention from world leaders than other recent events in Ukraine.He said that "when you hit not just a hospital or a children's hospital —and not just a children's hospital, but a children's hospital in which there are children were being treated for cancer — it doesn't get much worse than that in terms of brutality."France's foreign minister called the strikes "barbaric" and "war crimes" and promptly called for Ukraine's allies to strengthen their support.New UK prime minister Keir Starmer condemned "attacking innocent children" as the "most depraved of actions."<div type="image" title="A doctor carries a child" height="1333" width="2000" msid="111641068" hostid="261" sizebytes="104020"></div>Biden called the strikes "horrific" and said "I will be meeting with President Zelensky to make clear our support for Ukraine is unshakeable."The Russian missile attacks were also a notable talking point at the NATO summit. The head of Ukraine's parliament started his address by holding up photos of its aftermath and described it as Russian President Vladimir Putin laughing at the red lines the West has set. He added that it showed how the remaining restrictions need to be lifted.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-and-ukrainian-foreign-minister-dmytro-kuleba-before-their-meeting-13/">spoke</a> at the start of the summit. Blinken acknowledged the hospital attack and said that it "underscores" how Russian aggression continues.<h2 id="60d8738f-6717-452a-a94f-865b8649031c">A devastating hit</h2>The children's hospital <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/09/russian-missile-identified-in-kyiv-childrens-hospital-attack/">appeared to have been struck by a Russian Kh-101 missile,</a> something the UK MOD previously described as being <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-using-missiles-intended-high-value-targets-on-grain-uk-2023-10">among Russia's "most valuable weaponry,"</a> but it is unclear if the hospital was Russia's intended target.War analysts looking at videos of the strike said there were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-challenge-russian-narrative-on-kyiv-childrens-hospital-attack-2024-7">no signs of damage or distress on the missile that would suggest it went off course</a>. Russia has, however, long struggled with intelligence reliability and targeting for its devastating barrages.A UN investigation found the children's hospital likely took a direct hit from a Russian missile, likely a Kh-101. Ukraine also said it found Kh-101 remnants at the site.<div type="image" title="Rescue and military forces clear the rubble of the destroyed building with shovels" height="1333" width="2000" msid="111641060" hostid="261" sizebytes="294622"></div>Moscow has denied hitting the hospital, arguing instead that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile was responsible. Russia, throughout its invasion, has repeatedly made claims that have been disproven by evidence. War analysts said available visual evidence <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-challenge-russian-narrative-on-kyiv-childrens-hospital-attack-2024-7">disputes Russia's claims</a>.Russia has hit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-condemns-russia-direct-strike-at-mariupol-maternity-hospital-2022-3">multiple hospitals</a>, medical sites, and civilian sites throughout its war.Menon said "it doesn't in the end matter whether Russia did it deliberately or it was an errant missile or some commander screwed up. The fact is it was done, and it's a war crime in a legal sense."Multiple Ukrainian officials have also called the missile attack a war crime, and a UN official said that "intentionally directing attacks against a protected hospital is a war crime and perpetrators must be held to account."Ukraine's new air defense systems will bolster the country's ability to prevent strikes like this, but they likely won't fully meet its defense needs. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in April that Ukraine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-says-identified-100-patriots-allies-could-spare-against-russia-2024-4">needs 25 Patriot systems</a> with between six and eight batteries each to fully protect the country.That's a tall order as is, but Ukraine wants its international partners to go further still. It wants a clear path into NATO, as well as the lifting of the remaining restrictions on attacking legitimate targets in Russia. It remains unclear if the ongoing NATO summit will produce these results.Senior defense reporter Jake Epstein contributed to this reporting from the NATO summit.

Russia's brutal missile strike on a Ukrainian children's hospital just before the big NATO summit appears to be backfiring

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia is hosting a BRICS summit this week, showing the limits of attempts to isolate it.</li><li>The grouping is buoyant after ballooning from five members to nine.</li></ul>Russia is flexing its muscles at the center of the BRICS economic bloc which seeks to rival the West.The nation is hosting a meeting of the grouping this week, the first since the group almost doubled its membership.The larger grouping gives them more weight — and is a rebuke to Western-led attempts to isolate Russia economically.It also complicates the grouping, introducing new competing interests and rivalries.Geopolitical analysts say it could dilute the group's ability to take action, and reduce it to a talking shop.Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates are the new BRICs entrants, joining earlier members Russia, India, China, Brazil, and South Africa. Saudi Arabia has been invited to join but has not formally done so yet.Russian President Vladimir Putin <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://brics-russia2024.ru/en/">touted</a> the expansion as proof of the group's "growing authority" and role in international affairs.Yet geopolitical tensions and competing interests among the group are dragging down Russia's efforts to use it to chip away at the dominance of the West, particularly the US dollar."BRICS expansion is no easy task," said Abishur Prakash, the founder of The Geopolitical Business, a strategy advisory firm in Toronto."It risks creating rival camps within the group," he told Business Insider.<h2 id="a422f5a1-a2fa-40bb-898f-89b58f30e598">A 'raw' grouping</h2>Since its founding in 2006 — with Brazil, Russia, India, and China as members, before South Africa joined in 2010 — the bloc has tried to challenge Western economic dominance.Over the past two decades, its members experienced significant economic growth. After the recent expansion, its member states represent almost 46% of the world's population and about 25% of global exports.Last year, more than 40 countries <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brics-summit-countries-interested-brazil-russia-india-china-south-africa-2023-8">expressed interest</a> in joining the bloc.But Anton Barbashin, cofounder and editorial director at Riddle Russia, an online journal on Russian affairs, described the group as a "raw collection" of countries.They have "no chance" of political unity due to competing interests and starkly differing attitudes, he said.Members have grappled with <a target="_blank" class="" href=" https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-brics-group-and-why-it-expanding">internal disagreements</a> over relations with the West, territorial claims, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Others are engaged in internal standoffs. India and China have clashed over disputed territory along their border, though they <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/live/QiqK0eIJn8E">announced a deal</a> on patrolling arrangements this week.Some countries — notably India and South Africa — also have a tricky balancing act to do, engaging with the group without alienating their partners in the West.<h2 id="1875563d-1228-4de5-a7cc-5b63106239c1">Talking shop</h2>Barbashin told BI that the BRICS Summit is important for Russia because it has been cut out from other international platforms.It's a way to communicate and possibly strike "some deals in the future that we don't necessarily foresee," he said.In total, representatives of 32 countries are set to attend the summit this week, according to Moscow.Barbashin said that the group's size masks its relative impotence."It's just a nice facade," he said, "and it falls within the idea that economic growth should translate into a greater political setting."Leaders are expected to discuss how far members are willing to commit to the group.Una Aleksandra Berzina-Cerenkova, director at Riga Stradins University's China Studies Center, told Politico that "China uses BRICS to give it a mandate to push global visions and post-Western vision."During a press briefing held by the Center for European Policy Analysis on Monday, one analyst foresaw major hurdles for the group to move past its status as a "debating club."Evgeny Roshchin, a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, said the group would need to choose how to distribute power between its members should more join."Behind the rhetoric, there's a huge concern — even within Russia — whether the new members will become their equals," he said, noting that Russia could lose its leverage and decision-making among a large group of notionally equal members.<h2 id="ab0780f6-acfd-427a-bc7c-109fb06111f1">Taking on the dollar</h2>Another challenge BRIC members like Russia and China face is trying to change the fundamentals of global <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-commodities-trading-centers-brics-us-dominated-global-finance-2024-10">financial trading systems</a> that rely overwhelmingly on the US dollar.During a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75349">BRICS Business Forum</a> in Moscow last week, Putin said group members were working on alternative payment systems, as a rival to SWIFT.The alternative systems would aid cross-border payments between members, according to a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.yakovpartners.com/publications/imfs/">report</a> by Russia's finance ministry, its central bank, and consultancy Yakov &amp; Partners.It envisioned a network of payments using local currencies rather than a default reserve currency like the dollar.Russia already has a model it can look to for transactions among central banks: the mBridge system under the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/cbdcs-crypto-central-banks-bis-digital-currencies-bitcoin-stablecoins-tether-2021-9">Bank for International Settlements</a>.BRICS members are also toying with alternative currencies, spanning Chin'a digital yuan and Moscow's interest in crypto.The greenback, though, will be <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/de-dollarization-dollar-war-currency-usd-dominance-china-yuan-economy-2024-5">hard to dethrone</a> — even without competing priorities and rivalry among BRICS members."Russia wants to create an alternative to Western financial infrastructures," Barbashin said.But "there's no chance of making anything like a union or an alliance," he said.BRICS members are united in that they want to see change, he said "but there's no real strategy within BRICS aside from fancy phrases to make it work."

Putin's expanded BRICS summit proves he has friends — but risks buckling under its own contradictions

As <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword>'s <keyword id="19916774" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="exports" source="keywords">exports</keyword> in the first quarter of 2024-25 (April-June) crossed the $200 billion mark, the government has expressed its optimism about reaching its full-year target of $800 billion. "We are quite optimistic and it gives us optimism that we'd be crossing our <keyword id="19944038" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="USD" source="keywords">USD</keyword> 800 billion of trade this year," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Monday while releasing India's trade data for June. India's overall exports, merchandise and services combined in the month of June were to the tune of $65.47 billion, a 5.4% rise on a yearly basis, commerce ministry data showed. Same month last year it was at $62.12 billion. In break up, <keyword id="22419320" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="exports-of-merchandise-goods" source="Orion">exports of merchandise goods</keyword> rose from $34.32 billion to $35.20 billion, and exports of services rose from $27.79 to $30.27 billion. In May, merchandise and services exports combined were to the tune of $68.29 billion, a 10.2% rise on a yearly basis. The country's <keyword id="19933566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="imports" source="keywords">imports</keyword> too increased year-on-year in June, data showed today. The same was the case in May. The overall imports, both merchandise and services combined, increased from $69.12 billion to $73.47 billion, a rise of about 6.3%, in June. In the recently concluded financial year 2023-24, India registered record exports at $778 billion. In 2022-23, the country exported goods and services combined at $776.3 billion. In break up, services exports rose from $325.3 billion to $341.1 billion in 2023-24. Merchandise exports though marginally declined from $451.1 billion to $437.1 billion. Among various steps the government took was to launch a <keyword id="8870884" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Production-Linked-Incentive" source="Orion">Production Linked Incentive</keyword> (PLI) scheme in varied sectors, including electronic goods, to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, enhance exports, integrate India into the global supply chain and reduce dependency on imports. These seemed to have reaped dividends. China, Russia, Iraq, <keyword id="19908927" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uae" source="keywords">UAE</keyword>, and Singapore were among the countries where India's exports in the just-concluded financial year have risen substantially, though with a low base. The other countries in the Top 10 list are the UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, and <keyword id="19899437" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="south-africa" source="keywords">South Africa</keyword>. Overall imports declined from $898.0 billion in 2022-23 to $853.8 billion. Both merchandise and services exports declined during the financial year. Overall trade deficit significantly improved from $121.6 billion in 2022-23 to $75.6 billion in 2023-24.

India's Apr-Jun quarter exports cross $200 bln, government optimistic of reaching  $800 bln annual target

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In a move likely to anger the US, Modi is visiting Russia.</li><li>It signals strong ties between the two countries and shows that India is pursuing its own agenda.</li></ul>In a move likely to anger the US, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Russia on Monday for his first bilateral trip after winning a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-election-results-complicates-plans-unseat-china-modi-bjp-2024-6">historic third term</a> in office.Modi's two-day visit to Russia — where he is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin — is significant in that it signals strong ties between New Delhi and Moscow. It also shows the world that India is not afraid to pursue its own agenda.Vinay Kwatra, India's foreign secretary, told reporters in New Delhi that issues between Russia and India have "piled up" and "need to be addressed," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-07/putin-hosts-modi-after-hailing-best-in-history-ties-with-india-rival-china">Bloomberg reported</a>.Russia's relationship with India goes back to the Cold War, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/rise-in-trade-with-russia-not-a-temporary-phenomenon-s-jaishankar-429969-2024-05-17">trade between the two countries</a> has grown since Russia started the war in Ukraine. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russian-oil-india-purchases-us-crude-wti-sanctions-ukraine-war-2024-3">India is a major buyer of Russian oil</a>. Russia is also India's biggest arms supplier.Kwatra underscored that the two countries' trade relationship has remained "resilient."Still, Modi's trip will "rankle many Western observers," Ved Shinde, a researcher and contributor to Australia's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/why-modi-will-go-moscow">Lowy Institute</a>, wrote in a note on Wednesday."Since the Ukraine war began, India's purchase of cheap oil from Russia has been seen as profiting from troubles in the heart of Europe," Shinde added.<h2 id="05696275-c92a-4ee6-84e4-fd193ca99db2">Modi's visit to Russia will make the US look bad</h2>Just like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vietnam-russia-putin-visit-us-wary-manufacturing-supply-chain-diplomacy-2024-6">Putin's visit to supply-chain hot spot Vietnam</a>, India's engagement with Russia isn't a good look for the US, as it comes while Washington is trying to isolate Putin.The US has raised "some concerns" about India's relationship with Russia with New Delhi, Kurt Campbell, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.state.gov/special-online-briefing-with-deputy-secretary-of-state-kurt-m-campbell/">US deputy secretary of state</a>, said last month.However, Washington acknowledges that India's ties with Russia are different from its ties with the US."We have many areas of alignment, but it is not surprising that there would be areas where we've had perhaps different perspectives, views, historical ties," Campbell said about America's relationship with India.India, for its part, is looking to balance its relationship with the world's key powerbrokers: the US, Russia, and China."There are different degrees in India's multi-alignment. Make no mistake — the United States and its allies are more consequential for India's future than its relationship with Russia," Shinde wrote.India needs to leverage its historical ties with Russia to secure its economy and security, so Modi isn't just in Russia for a goodwill trip.<h2 id="c79db6fd-b57b-4ff5-8f16-bc16c77b8021">Reducing the trade imbalance</h2>A key agenda item for the visit is to reduce a huge bilateral trade imbalance, Kwatra said.India imports about $60 billion of goods a year from Russia, but Russia buys less than 10% of this amount from India, Bloomberg reported.Modi may also touch on China's activities in the Indo-Pacific region, Kwatra added.India is trying to manage its relationship with China, which has been testy since a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-china-border-clashes-could-cause-more-indian-ocean-activity-2020-7">border dispute in 2020</a>. Modi skipped the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan last week.There's also the matter of Russia's ties with China.At the summit last week, Putin said <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/video/kazakhstan-china-government-russia-government-russia-5b1c1a8f402c400d8d703543b0562b51">Russia's relationship with China</a> is in the "best period in history."Modi now needs to cozy up to Putin to counter China's advances."The reason for the time-tested stability in India-Russia ties is to maintain a continental balance in the Eurasian heartland. That is, to balance China," Shinde wrote."Or to put it another way, don't go around making new adversaries when there are already two open fronts — China and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-and-china-pick-sides-in-tense-india-pakistan-rivalry-2022-3">Pakistan</a>," he added.

Modi's Russia visit shows India isn't worried about making the US mad

<ul class="summary-list"><li>BRICS' Kazan Declaration on Wednesday contained 134 points — and only one discussed the Ukraine war.</li><li>That point was a call for all parties to abide by UN standards, despite Russia hosting this year.</li></ul>Over two dozen world leaders at this year's BRICS summit ended Wednesday's talks with the Kazan Declaration, a 134-point summary of their agreements.The war in Ukraine was only mentioned once in the 43-page document, and though Russian leader Vladimir Putin hosted the event, its wording is a far cry from the Kremlin's preferred rhetoric.That single paragraph contained none of Russia's usual talking points, instead urging all parties to act in accordance with United Nations standards — a more neutral statement often used by nations like China."We emphasize that all states should act consistently with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation," the document reads. "We note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices, aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-october-23-2024">The Institute for the Study of War</a> wrote on Wednesday that the language in the document shows that Russia, despite its leading position at the summit, still isn't able to shape the stances of friendly world leaders on its war."The Kazan Declaration notably only mentioned Russia's war in Ukraine once," the Washington-based think tank wrote.Russia has denied the sovereignty of Ukraine and said its invasion is justified as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-said-invaded-ukraine-stop-nato-expanding-has-achieved-opposite-2022-5">counter to NATO's expansion</a> and due to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-tries-justifying-ukraine-war-denazification-zelensky-jewish-president-2022-2">debunked allegations that Ukraine is a Nazi-run state.</a>The declaration "demonstrated that Russia has not yet secured the international support nor created the alternative security structure that the Kremlin desires," ISW added.That's significant because Moscow has been trying to get its allies on board with its invasion while the West isolates the Russian economy in response. The US and Ukraine have repeatedly accused China, a founding BRICS member, of supplying Russia with weapons parts and economic support.Yet several founding members of the BRICS group, such as Brazil and India, still maintain strong economic ties with the US amid its support for Kyiv.The Kazan Declaration, meanwhile, condemned Israeli actions in the Middle East in five points, including criticism of a strike on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-israeli-strike-syria-could-put-us-forces-crosshairs-iran-2024-4">Iranian consulate in Syria</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-attack-lebanon-hezbollah-past-invasion-2024-10">Tel Aviv's invasion of southern Lebanon</a>, and the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-gaza-hamas-civilian-casualties-children-deaths-airstrikes-palestinian-2023-10">war in Gaza.</a>World leaders also spent two paragraphs discussing the South Sudanese Civil War.The summit also exposed the difficulties that Western sanctions have inflicted on life in Russia. Leaders met in Kazan, which is in the southwestern Republic of Tatarstan region.Business Insider's Huileng Tan wrote that organizers said <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dedollarization-russia-brics-summit-foreign-attendees-cash-usd-euros-putin-2024-10">card transactions there</a> would be unavailable due to restrictions on Mastercard and Visa cards issued outside Russia.Attendees were instead asked to bring cash in US dollars or euros — the same currencies that Putin has been trying to get his allied countries to drop — to exchange for rubles at Russian banks.

BRICS' new declaration shows Russia's war still can't get the international backing that Moscow wants

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia is proposing alternative payment systems and commodity centers.</li><li>The proposal aims to strengthen BRICS economies' sovereignty and reduce dollar reliance.</li></ul>Russia has released new details on how it could move away from the dollar, part of a long-running effort to buoy trade amid Western sanctions.Earlier this month, Russia's Finance Ministry, its central bank, and Moscow-based consultancy Yakov &amp; Partners outlined the country's vision of what the country is aiming for in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yakovpartners.com/publications/imfs/">report.</a>Other than championing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dedollarization-russia-actively-working-brics-local-currencies-platform-us-dollar-2024-6">alternative payment</a> systems based in non-dollar currencies, Russia is also pitching the set-up of centers for mutual trade in commodity resources.Russia is a commodity giant and a major producer of oil, natural gas, gold, and grains. However, the country has been heavily sanctioned by the US following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted its oil and gas trade.The report proposed setting up foundations for commodity trading centers but did not provide details. However, it explained why it was a good idea."This measure will ensure independent pricing and strengthen the sovereignty of the BRICS economies," the report said, referring to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — the anchor members of the BRICS emerging markets group.Such a measure would add to what Russia is already doing to keep trade humming amid sweeping sanctions, such as those that block banks from dealing with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-all-china-banks-refuse-yuan-ruble-transfers-sanctions-2024-8">payment transactions</a> involving Russian companies.Another offbeat way Russia is beating sanctions is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-barter-pakistan-mounting-sanctions-western-war-allies-international-trade-2024-10">barter trade. </a>One Russian company struck an agreement to trade chickpeas and lentils for tangerines, rice, and potatoes from Pakistan, according to Tass state news agency earlier this month.Such alternative payment systems and bartering "are based on a notion that any involved institutions, even if faced with extraterritorial restrictions, will retain unchallenged access to their domestic market that will allow them to effectively facilitate domestic and cross-border transactions," the report said.Moving BRICS trade to trading centers within the bloc would also involve the use of local currencies and facilitate a move away from using the dollar for trade, according to the document.Russia's report on alternative payments and trading systems came weeks before the annual BRICS summit, which will be held in the Russian city of Kazan from October 22 to October 24.The proposal also came months after Russia proposed a grain-trading exchange for BRICS members, as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/101594/">Interfax</a> news agency reported in April.BRICS member countries are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/wasde1024.pdf">major producers and exporters</a> of grains in the world market, with Russia accounting for about one-quarter of the world's wheat exports. Meanwhile, Brazil accounts for about 60% of the world's soybean exports, and India accounts for about 40% of the world's rice shipments.Most global grain prices are set on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are dominated by the US dollar."The BRICS countries, being key participants in the global grain market, cannot fully participate in the formation of prices for economically fundamental and food security-essential products as wheat, barley and corn, world prices for which are formed, and often manipulated, in third countries," Russia's Union of Grain Exporters wrote in a letter to the country's Agriculture Ministry in December when it proposed a BRICS grain exchange.Russia faces an uphill battle in changing the basics of dollar-dependent financial trading systems. Right now, dollar-based trade participants can easily enter and exit their positions, whereas bartering or using other currencies could reduce liquidity and flexibility.Since there's already heavy trading in CME's grain markets, it would be challenging for new exchanges and their products to lure participants over en masse.Brent crude oil futures, for example, are still the world's benchmark and are actively traded. However, their namesake <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shell.co.uk/about-us/sustainability/decommissioning/brent-field-decommissioning/brent-field-decommissioning-programme.html">Brent oil fields</a> in Scotland are being decommissioned due to resource depletion.As the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/GFSR/2015/02/pdf/c2_v2.pdf">International Monetary Fund</a> explained in a 2021 report, "because of the network nature of markets, effects tend to be self-reinforcing— high market liquidity tends to attract more traders and so forth."

You Searched For "India Russia Annual Summit" and got 8 results

PM Modi to meet Putin and Xi Jinping at BRICS summit in Russia on October 22-23

BI India Bureau

Putin's dollar problem is on clear display at the BRICS summit, starting with the moment guests land at the airport

Huileng Tan

Russia's brutal missile strike on a Ukrainian children's hospital just before the big NATO summit appears to be backfiring

Sinéad Baker

Putin's expanded BRICS summit proves he has friends — but risks buckling under its own contradictions

Thibault Spirlet,Huileng Tan

India's Apr-Jun quarter exports cross $200 bln, government optimistic of reaching $800 bln annual target

ANI

Modi's Russia visit shows India isn't worried about making the US mad

Huileng Tan

BRICS' new declaration shows Russia's war still can't get the international backing that Moscow wants

Matthew Loh

Russia pitches trading centers in a widening plan to move away from the US-dominated global financial order

Huileng Tan

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides