Major Gulf and BRICS family offices managing $1tr in assets to gather for iBRICS Summit in Delhi

As India prepares to host the 18th BRICS Summit under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', more than 500 institutional investors, finance ministers and business leaders are set to gather in the national capital for the inaugural iBRICS Summit 2026, it was announced on Saturday. 

The summit is expected to bring together sovereign wealth funds, public pension funds and major Gulf and BRICS family offices managing a combined $1 trillion in assets. The organisers said the participation is aimed at facilitating direct discussions between large capital allocators and project owners. 

The two-day summit, scheduled for September 12-13 at The Oberoi in New Delhi, is being convened by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI). The event aims to create a direct platform for sovereign capital to connect with bankable projects in infrastructure, energy and digital capacity across the 21 BRICS member states and partner nations. 

The summit comes at a time when BRICS economies are navigating changing global trade patterns, US tariff pressures and high costs associated with dollar-based clearing and settlement. Against this backdrop, the gathering is expected to focus on ways to strengthen financial cooperation and develop alternative channels for cross-border capital flows. 

Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman of SWFI and Lead Co-Chair of iBRICS, said cross-border investment within BRICS had largely been discussed at the political level and executed bilaterally through outside intermediaries over the past two decades. 

"With tariffs and sanctions stressing traditional corridors, funds and ministries need direct access to allocate capital differently. We are providing that dedicated venue alongside the Leaders' Summit,” he said. 

Financial connectivity and payment systems are expected to be among the key themes at the summit. Following Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s confirmation of the BRICS payments task force, discussions will examine the potential integration of national fast-payment systems, including India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Brazil’s Pix, along with interoperability between central bank digital currencies. 

Dushyant Khanna, Co-Chair of iBRICS New Delhi 2026, said BRICS nations control a substantial share of global reserves and are developing financial infrastructure that could enable capital to move more independently. 

"The missing link has been matching that capital directly with bankable projects. September 12 is where project owners and global allocators sit down to make that match,” Khanna said. 

The first day will feature a closed-door roundtable involving around 250 principals, with discussions expected to focus on non-dollar settlement corridors and potential capital deployment targets. 

The second day will focus on pre-matched bilateral deal tables and specialised sector roundtables, providing investors and project owners an opportunity to discuss potential transactions and partnerships in greater detail. 

Indo-Asian News Service