India Skips BRICS Naval Drill, Says It Was Not an Institutional BRICS Activity
India Skips BRICS Naval Drill, Says It Was Not an Institutional BRICS Activity
India clarifies it did not join a South Africa-led BRICS naval drill, stressing it wasn't an official BRICS activity and reaffirming IBSAMAR as its regular maritime exercise.
India on Saturday clarified that it did not participate in a South Africa-led BRICS naval exercise, saying the drill was not an institutional BRICS activity. The event took place in South African waters and featured a mix of BRICS members and invited partners, but India’s absence was deliberate.
According to the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, the exercise was entirely a South African initiative with some BRICS participants and was not a regular or institutionalized BRICS activity; not all BRICS members participated. India has consistently taken part in IBSAMAR (India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime), the regular naval exercise in this context; the last IBSAMAR edition was held in October 2024.
India currently chairs BRICS, which expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE, with Indonesia joining in 2025. The timing of the South Africa-led drill came as tensions in Iran rose over crackdowns on protesters, a geopolitical backdrop to the BRICS discussions.
The Hindustan Times report on the location near Simon’s Town confirms that the exercise was hosted near that coastal area. The Times of India notes that India cited IBSAMAR as the standard format for its maritime links with Brazil and South Africa. In short, India’s stance was that this was not a regular BRICS activity, and therefore not a participation.
As BRICS grows to cover nearly half the world’s population and a sizable share of GDP and trade, the bloc has both cooperative potential and strategic sensitivities. The MEA’s clarification signals India’s careful balancing between expanding BRICS diplomacy and staying with established, predictable military frameworks.
