Cyril Ramaphosa returned from the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi with a pointed message for South Africans: membership in the bloc is already changing daily life at home, and the changes are set to deepen.
More than a fifth of South Africa’s total trade flows through BRICS member countries. That figure alone signals how embedded the country’s economy has become in the group’s networks. Through its shareholding in the New Development Bank (the BRICS Bank), South Africa has drawn development finance for energy, water and transportation infrastructure projects that reach into communities across the country. A separate safety net, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, gives South Africa access to a $100 billion pool of currency reserves should a liquidity crisis strike, providing a layer of economic stability that ordinary households rarely see but would quickly feel the absence of.
The bloc itself has expanded considerably since the 2023 Johannesburg summit. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined the original five members, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, bringing the group to eleven countries. Together they represent roughly half the world’s population and approximately a quarter of global trade. That scale gives BRICS real weight in reshaping global economic relationships.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa framed the organization’s purpose in terms that go beyond trade statistics. He described BRICS as a platform for building a fairer multilateral world order governed by international law, with the United Nations at its centre. Cooperation already spans science, technology, research, education and skills development. People-to-people exchange runs through institutions including the BRICS Youth Council, the BRICS Think Tanks Council and the BRICS Network University.
India stands out as a particularly consequential partner within the bloc. South Africa’s fourth largest trading partner, India has become a significant source of foreign investment. More than 150 Indian companies have invested over $10 billion in South Africa, creating employment for more than 18,000 South Africans. Leading South African firms, Naspers, FirstRand Bank, Sanlam and Momentum, maintain substantial investments in India, creating ties that run in both directions.
At the New Delhi summit, Ramaphosa convened the South Africa-India CEOs Roundtable, bringing together leaders from major Indian and South African companies to explore expanded cooperation. Indian business leaders commended the structural transformation underway in South Africa’s energy, logistics, telecommunications and water sectors, alongside reforms in visa procedures and public digital infrastructure.
The two countries identified complementary strengths with direct implications for South African workers and communities. India’s pharmaceutical and health technology capabilities align with South Africa’s ambition to expand local production of medicines and vaccines. India’s expertise in information technology, financial technology and digital public infrastructure can support modernization of South African systems and services. South Africa’s endowment of critical minerals can feed India’s expanding renewable energy, battery and automotive value chains, while enabling greater mineral processing within South Africa itself, which means more jobs at home rather than raw exports abroad.
Practical steps are already in motion. Ramaphosa indicated that South Africa is working to restore direct flights between the two countries and strengthen relationships between business chambers. Reducing those barriers matters most to the people whose livelihoods depend on trade and investment moving freely.
The question that follows South Africa home from New Delhi is whether the partnerships mapped out in boardrooms and summit halls will translate into the infrastructure, medicines and employment that communities are still waiting for.