Op-ed: India should make the New Development Bank the core of its BRICS finance agenda
BRICS holds about 40% of world GDP but little say at the IMF. Can a Shanghai-based bank change that?
Published 14 September 2026. Written by Pratidin from the reports linked at the end; every fact checked by a separate review before publishing. How we work
An opinion article in The Hindu on 14 September 2026, written as BRICS leaders met in New Delhi under India's chairship, argues that India should make the New Development Bank (NDB) the centrepiece of its financial agenda in BRICS instead of seeking open confrontation with Western-led finance. The article notes that BRICS accounts for nearly 40% of global GDP, yet its members' voting share in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not changed. The NDB, a multilateral development bank set up by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and operating since 2015, is presented as the one BRICS institution that can turn that economic weight into lending power.
The NDB's own website lists 139 approved projects worth about $42.9 billion. The article says only about $20 billion has been disbursed, a slower pace than the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and that India has received close to $10 billion across 32 projects, including metro rail systems and the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). According to the article, the NDB aims to do 30% of its lending and borrowing in members' own currencies. On 8 September 2026 the bank priced a 7 billion yuan Panda bond (a yuan bond sold in China by a foreign issuer) in three-year and five-year tranches, taking its total Panda bond issuance to 94.5 billion yuan. The article adds that a plan to raise about ₹25,000 crore through NDB rupee bonds over five years has been under discussion since 2016.
The article also flags the bank's limits. New NDB transactions with Russia have been on hold since March 2022, a step linked to protecting the bank's credit rating after Western sanctions. The five founders hold equal shares, which the article says complicates any expansion of capital. Membership has grown slowly: the NDB now has ten members, the five founders plus Bangladesh and the UAE (2021), Egypt (2023), Algeria (2025) and Uzbekistan (June 2026). Separately, the NDB's Board of Governors approved a General Strategy for 2027 to 2031 at a special meeting in Mumbai on 10 September 2026. The article's case is that local-currency lending reduces exchange-rate risk for borrowers and dependence on the U.S. dollar, a quieter route than a common BRICS currency; its own caveats are slow disbursement and the Russia problem.
Prelims facts
- The New Development Bank was agreed at the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014 and is headquartered in Shanghai; its five founders hold equal shares.
- In September 2026 the NDB listed 139 approved projects worth about $42.9 billion.
- The NDB has ten members: the five BRICS founders plus Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria and Uzbekistan.
- A Panda bond is a yuan-denominated bond issued in mainland China by a non-Chinese issuer; the NDB priced a 7 billion yuan Panda bond on 8 September 2026.
- New NDB transactions with Russia have been on hold since March 2022.
Quick recall
- Where was the New Development Bank agreement signed, and when?
- At the 6th BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014.
- Where is the NDB headquartered?
- Shanghai, China.
- How many projects had the NDB approved by September 2026, and worth how much?
- 139 projects worth about $42.9 billion.
- Name the five non-founding members of the NDB.
- Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria and Uzbekistan.
- What is a Panda bond?
- A yuan-denominated bond issued in mainland China by a non-Chinese issuer.
- How big was the Panda bond the NDB priced on 8 September 2026?
- 7 billion yuan, in 3-year (5.5 billion) and 5-year (1.5 billion) tranches.
- Who was the NDB's first president?
- K.V. Kamath of India (2015 to 2020).
- What did the NDB's Board of Governors approve in Mumbai on 10 September 2026?
- The bank's General Strategy for 2027 to 2031.
Prelims practice question
With reference to the New Development Bank (NDB), consider the following statements:
1. It was agreed upon at the BRICS summit held at Fortaleza.
2. Its founding members hold equal shares in its capital.
3. Its headquarters is in New Delhi.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only. Statement 1 is correct: the NDB agreement was signed at Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014. Statement 2 is correct: each of the five founders subscribed an equal share. Statement 3 is wrong: the NDB is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
Use this in UPSC Mains: previous-year questions
Recurring theme: BRICS institutions, the New Development Bank and the search for alternatives in global finance
- How to use this
Cite current figures on the NDB's scale, India's borrowing, local-currency financing and constraints, set against the larger AIIB, to show how the banks differ and matter to India.
- The NDB, agreed at Fortaleza in July 2014 and headquartered in Shanghai, has five founders with equal shares and ten members; the AIIB, by contrast, has 111 members.
- NDB lists 139 approved projects worth about $42.9 billion; an op-ed says only about $20 billion is disbursed, slower than the AIIB, and India has received close to $10 billion across 32 projects.
- Indian projects include metro rail systems and the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS; the NDB aims for 30% local-currency lending and priced a 7 billion yuan Panda bond on 8 September 2026.
- How to use this
The NDB is BRICS's clearest institutional alternative, though its slow disbursement and Russia problem limit how far BRICS can act as a counterweight.
- An op-ed notes BRICS accounts for nearly 40% of global GDP, yet its members' IMF voting share has not changed, which drives the search for alternatives.
- The op-ed argues local-currency lending (a 30% target) and Panda bonds (94.5 billion yuan in total) cut exchange-rate risk and dollar dependence, a quieter route than a common BRICS currency.
- Limits: new transactions with Russia on hold since March 2022, equal founder shares complicating capital expansion, and only ten members including Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria and Uzbekistan.
The NDB was set up by BRICS, not APEC, and is headquartered in Shanghai, which is exactly what this question tests.
Mains practice question
How can the New Development Bank help developing countries reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar? Discuss the constraints it faces and what India can do to strengthen it. (250 words)
Model answer
The New Development Bank (NDB), agreed at Fortaleza in 2014 and operating from Shanghai since 2015, is the main financial institution BRICS has built. An op-ed in The Hindu (14 September 2026) urges India to make it the core of its BRICS finance agenda.
How the NDB can reduce dollar dependence
- Local-currency lending: borrowers avoid exchange-rate risk when loans are in their own currency; the op-ed cites a 30% local-currency target.
- Local-currency funding: Panda bonds (7 billion yuan priced on 8 September 2026; 94.5 billion yuan in total) and a long-discussed rupee bond plan.
- Scale: 139 approved projects worth about $42.9 billion; India has received close to $10 billion for projects such as the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS.
Constraints
- Slow disbursement: about $20 billion disbursed, behind the AIIB, according to the op-ed.
- Sanctions: new transactions with Russia on hold since March 2022.
- Governance: equal founder shares make capital expansion politically hard.
- Small membership: ten members, against 111 for the AIIB.
- Geopolitics: members disagree on whether BRICS should be non-Western or anti-Western.
What India can do
- Push rupee bond issuance and local-currency loans for Indian projects.
- Back new members from the Global South to widen the capital base.
- Use the new General Strategy 2027-2031, approved in Mumbai on 10 September 2026, to speed up disbursement.
- Link the NDB agenda to its call for IMF quota reform rather than a common BRICS currency.
The NDB will reduce dollar dependence only if it lends faster and more widely; India's chairship is a chance to press for both.
The basics
Why this matters
Every BRICS summit returns to one complaint: the IMF and the World Bank give emerging economies less voice than their weight deserves. BRICS answered in 2014 by creating its own lender, the New Development Bank. The Hindu op-ed of 14 September 2026 asks India to use its chairship to make that bank bigger and faster, especially in lending in local currencies.
What a multilateral development bank does
A multilateral development bank (MDB) is owned by several governments. It raises money cheaply on bond markets, because its shareholders stand behind it, and lends that money for long-term projects such as metros, power lines and water systems. The World Bank is the best-known example. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Beijing) and the NDB (Shanghai) are the two newest large ones in Asia.
- 1Paid-in capital, $10 billionCash the founders actually put in
- 2Callable capital, $40 billionA promise to pay if the bank ever needs it, which reassures bond buyers
- 3Equal founder sharesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa each subscribed $10 billion
Why the currency of a loan matters
Most development loans are in U.S. dollars. If a borrower's own currency falls, the loan becomes more expensive to repay. Lending in the borrower's currency removes that risk. To lend in yuan or rupees, the NDB must first borrow in them, which is why it issues Panda bonds and local-currency lending.
- July 2014Agreement signed at the 6th BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil
- July 2015Five founding members join; the bank starts operating
- September and October 2021Bangladesh and the UAE join
- February 2023Egypt joins
- May 2025Algeria joins
- June 2026Uzbekistan joins, taking membership to ten
The two Asian banks side by side
- Headquarters: Shanghai
- Founded by the five BRICS countries with equal shares
- Ten members in 2026
- New transactions with Russia on hold since March 2022
- Headquarters: Beijing
- Opened for business in January 2016
- 111 members as of January 2026
- China holds about 26.1% of votes, India about 7.5%
The takeaway
The NDB is BRICS's most concrete achievement, but it is small and slow next to its ambitions. Local-currency lending is the practical form of de-dollarisation that India prefers to a common BRICS currency.
Go deeper
In one line: An op-ed in The Hindu argues that India should use its BRICS chairship to make the New Development Bank bigger, faster and more focused on lending in local currencies.
Why it matters for UPSC
The NDB is a standing Prelims topic (headquarters, founders, membership) and a Mains theme in GS2 (international institutions, BRICS) and GS3 (investment models, infrastructure finance). This op-ed gives current numbers and a clear argument about de-dollarisation.
The core idea
BRICS has economic weight but little voice at the IMF. Its answer was the New Development Bank, set up with equal founder shares. Its rival in Asia, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, has grown faster. The op-ed argues that the NDB's best contribution is Panda bonds and local-currency lending: raising money in members' currencies and lending it on, so borrowers escape dollar risk without BRICS needing a common currency.
Numbers and dates to remember
- July 2014: NDB agreed at Fortaleza; July 2015: founders join.
- 139 approved projects, about $42.9 billion (September 2026).
- About $20 billion disbursed; India close to $10 billion across 32 projects (op-ed).
- Ten members; Uzbekistan joined in June 2026.
- 8 September 2026: 7 billion yuan Panda bond; 94.5 billion yuan in total.
- March 2022: new transactions with Russia on hold.
Where to go next
- New Development Bank: how the BRICS bank is built and governed
- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: the bigger Beijing-based comparator
- Panda bonds and local-currency lending: how a bank lends without the dollar
Go deeper: can a development bank do what a BRICS currency cannot?
The case for the op-ed's approach. A common BRICS currency would need a shared central bank and a political union BRICS does not have; the New Delhi summit did not create one. The New Development Bank needs no such leap. Every local-currency loan it makes is a small, practical step away from the dollar, and India has already benefited, with close to $10 billion for projects such as metros and the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS, according to the op-ed.
The case for caution. The NDB is small. About $20 billion disbursed in a decade is modest next to the World Bank or even the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which has 111 members. Its local-currency lending depends on raising local-currency funds, for example through Panda bonds and local-currency lending, and a rupee bond plan first discussed in 2016 is only now in its final stages, according to the op-ed. Equal founder shares protect India from Chinese dominance but make it hard to raise capital, since any change must keep five governments on board. And sanctions on Russia, a founder, have already forced the bank to stop new business with it.
India's position. India supplied the bank's first president, K.V. Kamath, and has borrowed close to $10 billion from it. The op-ed notes a divide inside BRICS between members that want the group to be anti-Western and those that want it only non-Western. A stronger NDB fits the second view: it builds an alternative without attacking existing institutions. The General Strategy for 2027 to 2031, approved in Mumbai on 10 September 2026, is the next test of whether the bank can lend faster.
New Development Bank
How the BRICS bank is built and governed
In one line: The New Development Bank is the multilateral development bank of the five original BRICS countries, headquartered in Shanghai.
How it was set up
The agreement was signed at the 6th BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014, and the five founders joined in July 2015. Authorised capital is $100 billion; the initial subscribed capital of $50 billion was split equally, $10 billion per founder, of which $10 billion in total was paid in and $40 billion is callable. Each founder has an equal vote and no member has a veto.
Who runs it
Presidents rotate among founders. K.V. Kamath of India was the first (2015 to 2020), followed by Marcos Troyjo and then Dilma Rousseff of Brazil. Membership is open to UN members; Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria and Uzbekistan have joined.
Why it is in the news
An op-ed urges India to use the NDB for local-currency lending during its 2026 BRICS chairship.
Where to go next
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
The bigger Beijing-based comparator
In one line: The AIIB is a China-led multilateral development bank for infrastructure, headquartered in Beijing, in which India is the second-largest shareholder.
The basics
Its Articles of Agreement entered into force on 25 December 2015 and it opened for business on 16 January 2016. By January 2026 it had 111 members. China holds about 26.1% of the votes, enough to block the decisions that need a supermajority, and India about 7.5%. Its first president was Jin Liqun; Zou Jiayi took over in January 2026.
Why it is compared with the NDB
Both were created in the mid-2010s as alternatives to Western-led lenders. The AIIB has a far larger membership and, according to the Hindu op-ed, has disbursed its loans faster than the NDB. Unlike the NDB, where the five founders are equal, the AIIB's votes follow shareholding, which gives China a dominant position.
Where to go next
Panda bonds and local-currency lending
How a bank lends without the dollar
In one line: To lend to members in their own currencies, a development bank must first borrow in those currencies, for example through yuan-denominated Panda bonds in China.
The idea
A loan in dollars becomes costlier if the borrower's currency weakens. A loan in the borrower's own currency removes that risk. But the lender then needs funds in that currency. A Panda bond is a yuan bond sold in mainland China by a foreign issuer. The NDB has used Panda bonds since 2016; on 8 September 2026 it priced a 7 billion yuan issue in two tranches (5.5 billion for three years and 1.5 billion for five years), taking its total Panda bond issuance to 94.5 billion yuan.
India's side
The Hindu op-ed says a plan to raise about ₹25,000 crore through NDB rupee bonds over five years has been discussed since 2016, and that the NDB aims to do 30% of its lending and borrowing in members' currencies.
Where to go next
Take the 14 September 2026 quiz: 30 Prelims-style questions with answers