India is hosting the 8th BRICS Summit where world leaders will hold consultations on issues of mutual interest. It is being held on October 15-16 in Goa. BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies, comprising 43 percent of the world population, having 30 percent of the world GDP and 17 percent share in the world trade.

The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, "The World Needs Better Economic BRICs" on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

As a formal grouping, BRIC started after the meeting of the leaders of Russia, India and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC foreign ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The first BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16, 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC foreign ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on April 14, 2011.

Seven BRICS Summits have taken place so far. The 8th BRICS Summit is being held in Goa. The earlier summits were held as under:

7th BRICS Summit – 8-9 July 2015 in Russia (Ufa)

6th BRICS Summit - 14–16 July 2014 in Brazil (Fortaleza)

5th BRICS Summit - 26–27 March 2013 in South Africa (Durban)

4th BRICS Summit - 29 March 2012 in India (New Delhi)

3rd BRICS Summit - 14 April 2011 in China (Sanya)

2nd BRIC Summit - 16 April 2010 in Brazil (Brasilia)

1st BRIC Summit - 16 June 2009 in Russia (Yekaterinburg)

Starting essentially with economic issues of mutual interest, the agenda of BRICS meetings has considerably widened over the years to encompass topical global issues. BRICS cooperation has two pillars – consultation on issues of mutual interest through meetings of leaders as well as of ministers of finance, trade, health, education, agriculture, communication, labour, etc. and practical cooperation in a number of areas through meetings of working groups/senior officials.