India Proposes BRICS Gateway to Help 100 Startups Expand Across Member Markets Every Year

India has proposed turning BRICS into a much more practical platform for startup expansion, investment and cross-border business, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that the grouping should aim to help at least 100 BRICS startups every year enter and scale in other member-country markets.

Addressing the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, Modi also proposed two additional measurable goals for the grouping’s business community: identifying and addressing the ten biggest barriers to intra-BRICS trade and creating 1,000 new partnerships between businesses across BRICS countries every year. He suggested that progress against all three benchmarks should be reviewed annually.

From Startup Dialogue to Cross-Border Expansion

The proposal could mark an important shift in how BRICS approaches entrepreneurship. Until now, much of the grouping’s startup cooperation has centred on forums, knowledge exchanges, innovation competitions and policy dialogue. India’s proposal would add a more tangible objective by helping startups from one member country establish themselves, find partners, raise capital or reach customers in another.

The potential market is substantial. BRICS currently brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to the Indian government’s BRICS backgrounder, the grouping represents nearly half of the world’s population, around 40 per cent of global GDP and roughly a quarter of international trade.

For an Indian startup, therefore, a functioning BRICS expansion mechanism could mean access to several very different markets through a common network of incubators and institutional partners rather than having to build connections independently in every country.

BRICS Incubator Network Takes Shape

A major part of that architecture is the newly established BRICS Incubator Network. The New Delhi Declaration welcomes the network as a mechanism for deeper engagement among startups and small and medium enterprises across member countries.

India has described the network as a digital interface connecting national nodal agencies, selected incubators and startups across BRICS countries. It is intended to allow participating startups to establish links with incubators abroad and enable qualified companies to be referred to incubation organisations in other BRICS economies.

This could be particularly valuable for technology companies that need more than capital when entering foreign markets. A startup expanding into Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia or South Africa may require local regulatory knowledge, business partners, testing facilities, customer introductions and market-specific mentoring. A functioning BRICS incubator network could provide some of that institutional bridge.

Startup Innovation Fund Remains Under Consideration

Financing forms the second part of India’s proposed startup architecture. During India’s BRICS presidency, New Delhi proposed a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund intended to catalyse financing for early-stage and growth-stage startups and encourage innovation-driven entrepreneurship across member countries.

The final New Delhi Declaration, however, stops short of announcing the fund as a fully operational multilateral financing institution. The leaders welcomed “further consideration” of the BRICS Startup Innovation Fund as a potential mechanism for supporting startup-led innovation. This means its structure, contributions, governance and investment mechanisms would still require further agreement among member countries.

India Wants BRICS to Remove Business Barriers

Modi’s startup proposal forms part of a broader Indian effort to make BRICS economic cooperation more practical. At the Business Forum, he asked the BRICS Business Council to prepare a report identifying the ten biggest trade barriers among member countries and examine how they could be removed.

He also proposed the creation of 1,000 new business partnerships every year across BRICS. Taken together, the three goals — removing major trade barriers, enabling 100 startups to scale across BRICS markets and creating 1,000 business partnerships — would give the organisation measurable economic benchmarks rather than relying only on declarations and annual meetings.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has similarly called for simpler regulatory procedures, greater market access and closer BRICS cooperation in startups and emerging technologies. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has highlighted innovation, supply-chain connectivity and trade facilitation as important elements of India’s BRICS presidency.

Deep Tech Could Become a Major Beneficiary

India’s focus on startups also fits the wider technological agenda emerging within BRICS. The New Delhi Declaration emphasises cooperation under the Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution and supports stronger engagement among startups and SMEs, while also highlighting cooperation in areas such as Industry 4.0 and quantum technologies.

India has a particular interest in this area because its startup ecosystem increasingly includes companies working in fields where international partnerships are essential. Space technology, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, industrial robotics, biotechnology, clean energy, quantum security and advanced manufacturing often require access to overseas customers, specialised suppliers, testing infrastructure and long-term capital.

The BRICS framework could therefore offer Indian deep-tech startups something different from a conventional export promotion programme. Instead of merely selling products abroad, companies could potentially work with foreign incubators, establish joint ventures, undertake collaborative research, localise production or jointly enter third-country markets.

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