PIB TrackerBRICS brings its digital track to Pune
The Digital BRICS Forum and Expo convened ahead of the 12th Communications Ministers' Meeting, under a multi-stakeholder platform India itself institutionalised in 2021.
What happened
- The Digital BRICS Forum and Expo was held at Pune under India's Chairship.
- It precedes the 12th BRICS Communications Ministers' Meeting.
- The Forum was institutionalised at the 7th such meeting hosted by India in 2021.
- The theme is 'Innovate, Cooperate and Transform (ICT) for a Resilient Future'.
- Standing bodies include the ICT Working Group and the DPI Focus Group.
For Prelims
- Digital BRICS Forum: the multi-stakeholder platform of the BRICS ICT Track, institutionalised at the 7th Communications Ministers' Meeting hosted by India in 2021.
- This meeting: the 12th BRICS Communications Ministers' Meeting, at Pune.
- Theme: 'Innovate, Cooperate and Transform (ICT) for a Resilient Future'.
- Five standing bodies: the ICT Working Group, the Digital Public Infrastructure Focus Group, the Institute of Future Networks, the Digital BRICS Task Force and the Digital BRICS Forum.
- BRICS membership: now eleven countries — Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE.
- Chairship: India chairs BRICS in 2026.
- Ministers: Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia (Communications) and Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (MoS).
- DPI: Digital Public Infrastructure — the model India has carried into BRICS digital cooperation.
For UPSC: The clearest example of India exporting an institutional model rather than a position. Use it for BRICS, plurilateral groupings, digital public infrastructure as foreign policy and India's chairship agenda.
What it is NOT: A forum and an expo are not a negotiated outcome — the ministerial declaration follows, and the standing bodies are consultative rather than binding.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.18 · GS2.20 · Linkage L2
Anchor
Influence inside a grouping comes from authoring its machinery — India institutionalised the Digital BRICS Forum in 2021 and now chairs the track that runs through it.
Substantiation (data)
Five standing bodies — the ICT Working Group, the DPI Focus Group, the Institute of Future Networks, the Digital BRICS Task Force and the Forum — carry the digital agenda.
Exemplification
A dedicated Digital Public Infrastructure Focus Group places India's DPI model at the centre of BRICS digital cooperation.
Problematisation
An eleven-member BRICS with divergent data-governance regimes makes convergence on standards harder than convergence on rhetoric.
Way-forward
Use the chairship to move the DPI Focus Group from showcase to interoperable pilots between willing member states.
Position
India's leverage in BRICS is architectural, not declaratory.
Deploys into: Groupings & agreements + international institutions (GS2.18, GS2.20) · BRICS chairship, digital public infrastructure diplomacy and plurilateral standard-setting.
Ministry of Communications · 2026-08-20 · PRID 2301778 · PIB source ↗