UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 53 of 147

Correct — C, It represents around 46 percent of global trade..

UKPSC's key marks (c) as the statement that is NOT correct. The BRICS India 2021 website described the five-member grouping as 41 percent of world population, 24 percent of world GDP and over 16 percent of world trade. Options (a) and (b) restate the first two figures almost word for word.

Option (c) inflates the third. It represents around 46 percent of global trade is close to three times the published share.

Even for the expanded group, MEA's February 2025 brief gives about 26 percent of global trade, beside roughly 49.5 percent of population and 40 percent of GDP, so 46 percent fails under either count.

The idea to carry away: trade is the smallest of the three BRICS shares. The grouping is population-heavy and trade-light, because China and India supply the population while world trade is spread far more widely. Statement (d) is true: the first summit met at Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009.

• (a)
  It represents more than 40 percent of the global population. — This is a true statement, so it cannot be the answer to a NOT-correct question. The five-member grouping was officially described as 41 percent of world population, and MEA's 2025 brief puts the expanded group at around 49.5 percent, so 'more than 40 percent' holds either way.

  It is the right figure for BRICS's share of world population, the largest of the three shares and the one driven by China and India.

• (b)
  It represents around 24 percent of the world GDP. — True for the grouping the question is built on. The official five-member description gave 24 percent of world GDP, which is what this option quotes, so it is a correct statement and not the answer.

  It is the right figure for the five-member BRICS's share of world GDP at market exchange rates. PPP-based figures run higher, and MEA's 2025 brief puts the expanded group near 40 percent; a question quoting 24 percent is using the older, five-member set of numbers.

• (d)
  The first BRICS Summit was held in 2009 in Russia. — True. The first summit of the grouping met at Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009, with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The year and the host country are exactly what the option states, so it is not the answer.

  It is the right answer to where and when the first BRIC summit was held. South Africa was not yet a member; its inclusion was agreed in 2010 and it first attended at Sanya, China, in April 2011, which is why the 2009 meeting is often written 'BRIC' rather than 'BRICS'.

BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping of large emerging economies, begun by Brazil, Russia, India and China and joined by South Africa.

It works through an annual leaders' summit under a rotating chairship, ministerial and senior-official meetings, and two financial arms, the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, rather than through a treaty-based secretariat.

Its 'share of the world' figures are simple aggregates: members' combined population, GDP or trade divided by the world total. Population share is high because China and India are members. The trade share is lower because members' exports and imports are a smaller slice of world trade than their population suggests.

• The acronym BRIC was first used in a 2001 Goldman Sachs Global Economics Paper; South Africa's inclusion, agreed in 2010, made it BRICS.
• The first BRIC Summit met at Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009; the second at Brasilia on 16 April 2010.
• South Africa attended its first summit as a member at Sanya, China, on 14 April 2011.
• The BRICS India 2021 website described the five members as 41 percent of world population, 24 percent of world GDP and over 16 percent of world trade.
• MEA's February 2025 brief gives the expanded group around 49.5 percent of global population, around 40 percent of global GDP and around 26 percent of global trade.
• Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE became full members from 1 January 2024; Indonesia joined as a full member in January 2025.
• MEA lists Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan as partner countries inducted in January 2025.
• The New Development Bank was agreed at the 6th summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014 and is headquartered in Shanghai.
• India has hosted in New Delhi (29 March 2012), Goa (15-16 October 2016) and virtually (9 September 2021); the 16th summit met at Kazan, Russia, on 22-24 October 2024.

• Accepting 46 percent for trade because BRICS expanded: the expansion lifted population to about 49.5 percent and GDP to about 40 percent, but trade only to about 26 percent.
• Treating the GDP share as one number: 24 percent is the five-member figure at market exchange rates; PPP-based and post-expansion figures are higher, so match the number to the grouping and the measure.
• Doubting statement (d) because South Africa was absent in 2009: the Yekaterinburg meeting is the first summit of the grouping; South Africa's first summit was Sanya in 2011.
• Carrying the expanded group's 'about half the world' population figure across to trade; 46 percent sounds like that memory, but it belongs to a different row.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following statements about BRICS is NOT correct?

  • (a)The first BRIC Summit was held at Yekaterinburg in 2009.
  • (b)South Africa attended its first summit as a member at Sanya in 2011.
  • (c)The New Development Bank is headquartered in Shanghai.
  • (d)Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE became full members on 1 January 2021.
  Answerd — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE became full members from 1 January 2024, not 2021; in 2021 BRICS still had five members and India held the chairship.

  (a) is true: Yekaterinburg, Russia, hosted the first summit on 16 June 2009. (b) is true: South Africa's inclusion was agreed in 2010 and it attended the Sanya summit in April 2011. (c) is true: the NDB, agreed at Fortaleza in 2014, is headquartered in Shanghai.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about BRICS: 1. The acronym BRIC was first used in a Goldman Sachs paper in 2001. 2. The grouping was formalised at the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UN General Assembly in 2006. 3. The 16th BRICS Summit was held at Johannesburg. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)2 and 3 only
  • (c)1 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3
  Answera — Statements 1 and 2 are correct: Goldman Sachs used the acronym in its 2001 Global Economics Paper, and the grouping was formalised at the first BRIC Foreign Ministers' meeting in New York in 2006.

  Statement 3 is wrong: the 16th summit met at Kazan, Russia, on 22-24 October 2024; Johannesburg hosted the 15th in August 2023. Options (b), (c) and (d) each include statement 3 and so fail.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following countries joined BRICS as a full member in January 2025?

  • (a)Thailand
  • (b)Indonesia
  • (c)Malaysia
  • (d)Argentina
  Answerb — Indonesia became a full member of BRICS in January 2025.

  Thailand and Malaysia were inducted in the same month as partner countries, a tier below full membership, so (a) and (c) fail. Argentina was invited at the 2023 Johannesburg summit but declined to join, so (d) fails.