President Lula's February 2026 state visit to India represents significant progress in bilateral relations but falls short of the transformational breakthrough both sides rhetorically claim. The tangible outcomes—particularly the critical minerals MoU and defense cooperation framework—provide foundation for deeper strategic convergence. The visit's symbolism, with Lula's evocative language about 'the digital world returning to its homeland' and Modi's emphasis on amplifying the Global South voice, captured both leaders' aspiration to position India-Brazil cooperation as exemplar of South-South partnership. The world’s two largest democracies have all the ingredients for transformation. The question is whether they can overcome geography, bureaucracy, and inertia to realize the promise.

As of now it's an unregulated domain where we are allowing probabilistic systems into high-stakes domains (such as the health sector) without clear liability frameworks. But unlike past technologies, AI does not simply execute human commands; it optimizes, predicts, and decides. This shift from tool to agent is the root of its ethical gravity. Therefore the main question our policymakers face today is Who is accountable when AI causes harm? If a self-driving car kills a pedestrian, or an LLM generates defamatory content, the corporate entity often deflects liability by calling it a “known limitation” or “user error.”

Unilateralism is still not dead as we see the recent irresponsible acts of President Donald Trump to capture the Venezuelan leader Maduro and now threatening to take Greenland is simply awful. The war in Iran almost looks imminent. The war in Ukraine is not yet over and at the same time China is threatening to take back the island of Taiwan by force. Japan is rearming itself after a landslide victory of the LDP under the new leadership of prime minister Sanae Takaichi. It seems we are going to witness another Cold War or even hot wars if the situation goes uncontrolled in many regions of the world.

Since PM Modi took office in 2014, India has undergone a fundamental foreign policy transformation characterized by strategic autonomy, economic statecraft, and proactive multilateralism. This brief commentary examines the emerging Modi Doctrine through analysis of recent developments including the historic India-EU trade deal (January 2026), India's BRICS presidency (2026), the India AI Summit, and bilateral relationships with Russia, France, EU, Japan, Central Asia, Iran, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and South Asia.

India assumed BRICS rotating presidency January 1, 2026, marking its fourth chairmanship. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar unveiled theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, Sustainability'—deliberately mirroring India's successful G20 presidency (MEA, 2026a). PM Modi articulated vision at July 2025 Rio Summit: 'We will redefine BRICS as Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability' with 'Humanity First' approach (MEA, 2025).

It is not clear Who wins the `AI Race. Whether it is US, China, India or the Humanity. But after the India AI Impact summit2026, it is obvious that the Global South is not just going to be used as data source, they will rise to claim their data sovereignty and be a part of the global norms setting for the upcoming AI and digital regime. The New Delhi summit has emerged as a game changer for the whole AI industry and it’s never too late to wake up to the rising monopoly and claim your rightful place in the decision making.“

Initially, the West's approach to India was reactive—a "Plan B" in case things went wrong with China. That has fundamentally changed. What began as a hedging strategy against China has now become a proactive, positive strategy for India. Leaders are no longer coming to Delhi just to talk about what they can avoid (dependence on China), but about what they can build (AI standards, digital infrastructure, green hydrogen corridors).

It is foremost important for us to take care of our environment. We at BRICS Institute have joined hands with some of leading players in the field of plastic recycling, rubber tyer’s scrapping. and sustainable agriculture development across India and other BRICS nations. We have joined hands with companies working in the are of water purification, waste water handling and waste management. we work closely with renewable energy companies and provide ideas for recycle economy. we are working with NGOs and government agencies in these fields and help industry adopting sustainable growth model. We shall publish in detail on our environment/sustainble section of this page.