India Is Using Its BRICS Chair Moment to Fight for Small Businesses

Every few years, India gets a seat at the head of the table. In 2026, that table is BRICS — and India has chosen to use that position to push hard for something that often gets lost in the noise of geopolitics and trade summits: the survival and growth of small businesses.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has been given a clear mandate during India’s BRICS Chairship — convene three SME Working Group Meetings and organise the inaugural BRICS MSME Forum. The first of these meetings was held on April 24, 2026, as a virtual webinar, and the agenda was focused entirely on one of the most persistent problems facing small businesses in every BRICS economy: access to finance.

What Was Discussed — And Why It Matters

The meeting brought together representatives from BRICS member countries to talk honestly about what’s not working. For MSMEs, the credit gap is enormous. Millions of small businesses across India, China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, and the newer BRICS members cannot access formal credit — not because they are bad businesses, but because the systems around them weren’t built with them in mind.

Two themes dominated the discussions. The first was bridging the MSME credit gap through financial inclusion, financial literacy, and credit readiness. In plain terms: how do we bring more small businesses into the formal financial system, teach them how to use it, and make sure they qualify when they apply?

The second theme was fintech-driven ecosystems — the idea that technology, specifically digital lending platforms and seamless trade payment systems, can close the gap that traditional banking has left open for decades.

What Comes Next

This was just the first meeting. Two more working group sessions are scheduled, along with the inaugural BRICS MSME Forum — the first of its kind. The forum is expected to bring together policymakers, financial institutions, and MSME representatives to translate these conversations into actual policy frameworks and cooperative agreements.

India has already shown it takes this seriously beyond the BRICS framework. Bilateral MSME cooperation agreements have been signed with Japan, South Africa, and New Zealand, all aimed at opening trade and investment pathways for Indian small businesses in global markets.

The Bigger Picture

India’s MSME sector employs over 32 crore people and contributes nearly 31% of GDP. But for all that economic weight, the sector has historically been underserved by the financial system, undersupported in global markets, and underrepresented in the rooms where big decisions get made.

Using the BRICS chair to change that — even incrementally — is a meaningful signal. The hope is that this year’s meetings produce more than well-worded communiqués. The MSMEs waiting for credit, waiting for markets, and waiting for fair payment deserve concrete outcomes.

The next meeting will tell us whether this momentum holds.