As India gears up to host the fourth BRICS* summit in New Delhi on March 29, a new study has found that this club of high growth economies is as beset by unemployment, extreme poverty, regional disparity and inequality as some of the other countries in the world.

“As a bloc, BRICS is same as any other bloc because the growth strategy is quite ineffective if not a failure with respect to equity, employment, social justice etc. in the region,” said Praveen Jha of JNU, who is a co-author of the report. The study was released by Oxfam India in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The study mentions that despite attaining significant growth in the last few years, there are slippages at several levels that the BRICS have been unable to check.

“The progress is much tardier because if we see UNDP human development index of 2011, Brazil (84), Russia (66), India (134), China (101) and South Africa (123) remains at bottom level. There is little time to celebrate with such facts,” said Jha.

The reason the report gives for such a dismal show in HDI index is that the respective governments have withdrawn several social sector schemes retaining only a handful.

The report reads, “Total capital formation in agriculture in India continues to stagnate in real terms, since sharply reducing public investment is not being compensated by rising private investment.”

Jha said, “In the last five years, India’s growth rate has been highest but irony is that in the same year there has been almost zero employment expansion.” China and India are two largest economies of the BRICS consortium. 

The population of the BRICS nations is around three billion (a little less than half of the world’s population). According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), these nations have been growing at the rate of 30 percent a year, better than any other developed countries. The study suggested the BRICS has to rethink growth strategy to include marginalized sections of their societies who form the chunk of their populations.

India is hosting a BRICS summit for the first time as South Africa debuts as a full member.

*(BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)