Railway
In which year was the grouping BRIC (now BRICS) formally founded with its first summit?
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Answer: Option C — 2009
Detailed Solution
BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies. The term "BRIC" was coined in 2001 by Jim O'Neill, an economist at Goldman Sachs, in a report predicting that Brazil, Russia, India and China would become major economic powers by the middle of the 21st century.
The foreign ministers of the four countries first met informally in 2006 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The first formal BRIC summit was held on 16 June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. This is regarded as the founding of the grouping as a political and economic forum.
South Africa joined in December 2010 and attended its first summit in 2011 at Sanya, China, after which the group became known as BRICS.
In 2024, the group expanded further. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined as full members from 1 January 2024. Indonesia joined as a full member in January 2025. Saudi Arabia was invited but has not formally joined. BRICS also created a category of "partner countries" in 2024.
The BRICS countries together account for nearly half of the world's population and a large share of global GDP in purchasing power terms. BRICS has no permanent secretariat; the chairmanship rotates among members, following the order of the letters B-R-I-C-S, and the chair hosts the annual summit. Brazil hosted the 17th summit in Rio de Janeiro in July 2025, and India holds the chairmanship in 2026.
Important BRICS initiatives:
New Development Bank (NDB): agreed at the Fortaleza summit (2014), headquartered in Shanghai, China, to fund infrastructure and sustainable development projects. Its first President was K.V. Kamath of India; Dilma Rousseff, former President of Brazil, has headed it since 2023.
Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA): a pool of reserves to help members facing balance of payments pressures.
Why not the other options?
- ✗2001 is when Jim O'Neill coined the term "BRIC".
- ✗2006 is when the foreign ministers first met.
- ✗2011 is when South Africa attended its first summit.
Quick tip
Remember: BRIC term = Jim O'Neill (2001); first summit = Yekaterinburg (2009); South Africa joined 2010-11; expanded 2024-25; New Development Bank = Shanghai; India chairs BRICS in 2026.
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International Economic Organisations — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of International Economic Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers international economic and financial organisations: the IMF, the World Bank group, the WTO, the Asian Development Bank, the New Development Bank, the AIIB, OPEC, the OECD and groupings such as the G20, along with their headquarters, founding and functions. Questions usually ask where an organisation is headquartered, when it was set up, and what it does. For example, the IMF and World Bank were created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the WTO replaced GATT in 1995, and the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS countries, is headquartered in Shanghai. Practise the international economic organisations questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.