Modi challenges global ‘pyramid of privilege’ as India pushes for UN reforms.
India PM Modi, China’s Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at BRICS 2026 Summit in New Delhi. (12.09.2026).
BRICS 206 – Modi takes aim at concentration of global power: NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a fundamental overhaul of the institutions that govern the global economy and international security, saying the existing world order has become a “pyramid” in which power is concentrated at the top while countries bearing the consequences of global decisions remain largely shut out of them.
Addressing the 18th BRICS Summit in India on Saturday, Modi said the Global South was “in the front row of global crises, but in the back row of decision-making”.
His prescription was a shift from what he called a “pyramid of privilege” to a “platform of partnership”, with greater representation for developing and emerging economies in the institutions that shape international policy.
The speech placed reform of the United Nations Security Council and international financial institutions at the centre of India’s agenda for BRICS, as the grouping marks two decades since its creation.
Modi argued that the question was no longer simply whether developing countries should have a stronger voice, but whether the institutions that set global rules could retain their legitimacy without giving them one.
UN Security Council reform at the heart of the push
India has long sought a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, arguing that the current structure does not adequately represent the world’s population, economic weight or geopolitical realities.
The council’s permanent membership remains limited to China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, each with veto power. Ten other countries are elected for two-year terms, but without the same authority.
For New Delhi, the arrangement is a symbol of a wider imbalance in global governance.
Modi said Security Council reform “can no longer be delayed” and called for the negotiations over its future composition to be linked to a defined timetable and concrete outcomes.
The demand puts India alongside a broader group of countries seeking changes to the council, although agreement among UN members on how such reform should work has remained elusive for decades.
The issue is particularly sensitive because any restructuring of the council would have implications for the distribution of diplomatic influence among the world’s major powers.
For India, however, the argument is also about the credibility of multilateralism itself.
If the institutions claiming to represent the international community do not adequately reflect the countries and populations they govern, Modi suggested, their authority will increasingly come into question.
Modi puts UN Security Council reform at centre of India’s BRICS agenda.
Financial institutions also need to reflect today’s economy
Modi extended the argument beyond the UN to international financial institutions, saying voting power, leadership positions and policy priorities should better reflect present economic realities.
Emerging economies have grown substantially in importance since many of the world’s principal financial institutions were established, but their influence over decision-making has not always increased at the same pace.
Modi said countries that are driving global economic growth should have an “appropriate role” in shaping global economic governance.
That demand is closely linked to a broader Global South debate over access to development finance, the terms attached to international lending and the ability of developing economies to influence decisions that can have major consequences for their economies.
For BRICS, which has increasingly presented itself as a platform for emerging economies, the issue provides a natural area for collective diplomacy.
But turning a shared criticism of the existing system into a common reform position will be more difficult. BRICS members have different economic interests, political systems and strategic relationships with the established powers.
From rule-takers to rule-shapers
Modi also focused on a newer dimension of global power: control over the rules governing emerging technologies.
Artificial intelligence, cyberspace, biotechnology, outer space and other critical technologies are developing faster than many international regulatory systems designed to govern them.
Modi warned that countries in the Global South risk remaining “rule-takers” rather than becoming “rule-shapers”.
He proposed that BRICS should help young diplomats and policymakers from developing countries acquire negotiation skills, legal expertise and practical experience so that they can play a greater role in writing international rules.
The distinction is significant. It suggests that India’s vision of a more representative global order goes beyond securing additional seats in existing institutions. It also seeks greater influence over the standards and agreements that will shape the next generation of technology and international commerce.
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India PM Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at BRICS 2026 Summit in New Delhi. (12.09.2026).
Modi wants BRICS to become more effective
The prime minister also acknowledged that BRICS itself needs to improve if it is to lead such a reform effort.
With the chairmanship changing each year, Modi said the grouping needed a mechanism to ensure that decisions and initiatives were not lost during transitions.
He proposed a BRICS Continuity and Implementation Mechanism, operating through the grouping’s Troika, to track decisions and their implementation.
A secure digital repository could record who was responsible for each decision, the deadline for action and its implementation status, he said.
The proposal reflects an effort to move BRICS beyond summit declarations and towards a more institutionalised framework for delivering on agreements.
Modi called for 10 proposals on global governance reform to be developed into a BRICS Reform Roadmap by the next summit.
India PM Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at BRICS 2026 Summit in New Delhi. (12.09.2026).
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A test of whether reform rhetoric can become policy
The prime minister also offered a more immediate example of what he meant by responsive global governance, proposing a Seafarers Emergency Support Network.
The proposed network would link maritime authorities and diplomatic missions to help seafarers in distress, including through emergency alerts, medical assistance, communication with families and evacuation support.
For Modi, such measures are part of the same argument: international institutions should not merely represent countries more fairly but should also respond more quickly and effectively to crises.
The larger question is whether BRICS can translate that ambition into a coherent programme capable of changing institutions whose structures have been entrenched for decades.
India’s call for Security Council reform is not new. Nor are demands from emerging economies for greater influence in global financial governance. What is different in Modi’s latest formulation is the attempt to bring these demands together under a broader critique of the architecture of global power.
His message was aimed at both sides of the divide: the established institutions that India says need to change, and BRICS itself, which he wants to become a more effective vehicle for that change.
“If our future is shared,” Modi said, “then the right to shape that future must also be shared.”
For India, the ambition is clear: to move the Global South from having a voice in global affairs to having a meaningful role in determining their direction.
Whether the proposed roadmap can turn that ambition into concrete institutional reform will be the harder test.
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