India supports expansion of the BRICS group of nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at it summit in Johannesburg, ending speculation that New Delhi could be a stumbling block to Beijing's expansionist plan.    

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all said publicly that they support an expansion of the BRICS.    

Xi, Putin and Ramaphosa have said during the ongoing summit that an expansion would give the group an even bigger voice in world affairs.    

India, which has for years prioritised non-alignment in foreign policy, has been more cautious about expansion to avoid posturing BRICS against the Western alliances of G7, G20 or the United States, analysts said.

Speaking at the summit’s main event on Wednesday, Modi confirmed India’s support for the expansion.    

“India fully supports the expansion of BRICS membership and we welcome moving forward on this based on consensus,” he said. 

President da Silva said at the same vent that the last expansion of BRICS had led to the inclusion of South Africa, making the BRICS bloc more representative, and has urged Argentina and others to join. However, he has warned the bloc not to take an anti-West stance.    

Putin, who delivered his speech via video link, praised the BRICS for advocating for a "multi-polar world."    

Xi urged the BRICS to "accelerate" the expansion process. "I am glad to see the growing enthusiasm of developing countries about participating in BRICS cooperation and quite a number of them have applied to join the BRICS," he said.      

At least 20 countries have shown interest in joining BRICS, which accounts for more than 40% of the world population and a quarter of the global economy, Ramaphosa has said. 

Ankit Tiwari, a researcher at the New Delhi think-tank Council for Strategic and Defence Research, said in an article that irrespective of India’s or Brazil’s concerns, it seems likely that BRICS will expand. 

"New Delhi suspects that if a “swift” expansion were to happen, Beijing would then move to give the bloc an “anti-Western” flavour,” he wrote in The Interpreter , which features analysis on international issues. 

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)