BRICS and the Northeast: India’s Gateway to a Changing Global South

India’s BRICS moment should be read beyond the conference halls of New Delhi. The 18th BRICS Summit comes at a time when the geography of global power is changing rapidly, economic weight is shifting towards Asia, supply chains are being reconfigured and the countries of the Global South are seeking a larger role in shaping the institutions that govern the world. For India, this is an opportunity not merely to lead a major international grouping, but to connect its global ambitions with the economic transformation taking place within its own borders. Nowhere is that connection more compelling than in the Northeast.

For decades, the Northeast was viewed largely through the vocabulary of distance, difficult terrain and geographical isolation. That description is becoming increasingly inadequate. The region’s location, once regarded primarily as a constraint, can now become one of its greatest economic assets. Sharing borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar and lying close to the wider ASEAN region, the Northeast occupies a distinctive position in India’s engagement with Southeast Asia. As India deepens its Act East policy, the region is moving from the margins of the national economic map towards the centre of a larger strategic geography.

This is precisely why BRICS matters to the Northeast. BRICS should not be understood merely as a geopolitical counterweight to the West. India has little interest in replacing one rigid bloc with another. Its strategic autonomy is founded on the freedom to engage different centres of power according to national interest. India can deepen its partnership with the United States, maintain its longstanding relationship with Russia, manage competition and cooperation with China, strengthen ties with Southeast Asia and simultaneously champion the aspirations of the Global South. That flexibility is not a weakness. It is one of India’s greatest diplomatic strengths.

If BRICS is to become a practical platform for the Global South, however, its economic agenda must extend beyond declarations about a changing world order. Trade facilitation, investment, digital commerce, resilient supply chains, innovation and connectivity are where geopolitical ambition can acquire economic substance. These are also areas in which the Northeast can play a significant role. The region should not merely be a recipient of infrastructure created in the name of national integration. It should become an active participant in India’s expanding economic engagement with the world.

Connectivity is central to this transformation. Roads, railways, waterways, airports, border infrastructure and digital networks are steadily changing the meaning of distance in the Northeast. But connectivity should not be measured only by kilometres of highways or the number of bridges constructed. Its real test is whether it enables people, products, services, ideas and investment to move more efficiently. The objective should be to create economic corridors in which the Northeast is not simply a passage between mainland India and neighbouring countries, but a place where value is created, enterprises grow and employment is generated.

Assam can be especially important in this emerging architecture. Its geographical position, natural resources, agricultural potential, tea industry, petroleum sector, educational institutions and expanding entrepreneurial base provide the foundations for a more diversified economy. Guwahati can develop further as a logistics, services and knowledge hub for the Northeast. But the larger opportunity lies in building value chains across the region—linking agriculture with processing, handicrafts with global markets, tourism with local enterprise, and young talent with digital opportunities. The Northeast should aspire not merely to export raw potential, but to create products, services and intellectual capital that can compete beyond the region.

The BRICS agenda of innovation offers another opening. The Northeast possesses a young population whose aspirations are increasingly connected to technology, entrepreneurship and global opportunities. Digital platforms can help overcome some of the physical constraints imposed by geography. Start-ups in technology, agriculture, tourism, education and services do not necessarily need to be located beside India’s traditional metropolitan centres to participate in national and international markets. What they need is reliable digital infrastructure, skills, finance, mentorship and access to networks. A more connected BRICS economy could create opportunities for precisely this generation.

Yet economic transformation cannot mean abandoning the character of the region. The Northeast’s ecological richness and cultural diversity are among its greatest assets, not obstacles to development. Its forests, rivers, biodiversity and indigenous traditions require a development model that is both ambitious and sensitive. Sustainable tourism, organic agriculture, renewable energy, responsible infrastructure and cultural industries can demonstrate that growth and conservation need not be adversaries. Indeed, in an era when sustainability is increasingly becoming an economic imperative, the Northeast can turn ecological responsibility into competitive advantage.

Its cultural capital also deserves greater recognition. The Northeast is home to extraordinary linguistic, artistic and tribal traditions, music, crafts, cuisine and community practices. These are not merely matters of heritage; they can contribute to India’s soft power. Cultural exchanges, educational partnerships, tourism and creative industries can deepen India’s engagement with neighbouring countries and Southeast Asia. The region can become a place where India’s “Act East” is experienced not only through trade routes, but through people-to-people connections.

But infrastructure alone will not transform the Northeast. The region needs efficient logistics, reliable energy, stronger local institutions, quality education, skill development, investment facilitation and easier access to markets. Border connectivity must be accompanied by systems that enable local producers to benefit from increased commerce. Development must also remain environmentally responsible and culturally rooted. A road that passes through the Northeast without generating economic opportunity for its people is connectivity in the narrowest sense. The real objective must be connectivity that creates capability.

This is where India’s BRICS presidency can acquire a deeper domestic meaning. India has spoken increasingly of a more representative global order and of giving the Global South a stronger voice. That ambition should be visible within India itself. A country cannot convincingly argue for a more inclusive global architecture while allowing some of its own regions to remain peripheral to its economic imagination. Bringing the Northeast into the

centre of India’s development story would therefore strengthen not only regional prosperity but the credibility of India’s larger global vision.

The Northeast also gives India an opportunity to demonstrate what a genuinely multipolar and interconnected world can look like at the ground level. Its geography connects South Asia with Southeast Asia; its people connect diverse cultures; and its emerging economy can connect local enterprise with wider markets. The region is therefore not merely India’s eastern frontier. It can become an economic and cultural bridge between India and the wider Indo-Pacific.

The 18th BRICS Summit should consequently prompt a larger question: what does India’s rise mean for the geography of opportunity within India? The answer cannot be confined to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad or other established centres of growth. India’s next phase of development will depend increasingly on how successfully it unlocks the potential of regions that possess strategic location, natural resources, human capital and entrepreneurial energy.

The Northeast is one such region. Its transformation is not a peripheral concern to be addressed after the larger national agenda has been settled. It is part of that agenda.

India’s BRICS leadership will ultimately be judged by its ability to convert global influence into practical outcomes. If India can use this moment to strengthen trade, connectivity, innovation and cooperation across the Global South, it should also ensure that the Northeast becomes an active participant in that transformation.

The region has waited long enough to be described as a gateway. It is time to make it one.

The Northeast should not stand at the edge of India’s global rise. It should be one of the bridges through which that rise reaches the world.