Goa BRICS Summit: What to expect; what has it achieved in the past

India is all set to host the eighth annual Summit of BRICS from October 15-16 in Goa in its capacity as chair of the influential bloc comprising five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

These five countries represents over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population with combined GDP of over USD 16 trillion. As India gears up for 8th BRICS summit in Goa, here's all you need to know about the group.

What India expects from this summit

India assumed chairmanship of BRICS from Russia on February 15 and it will last till December 31. The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said India's core-theme during BRICS chairmanship will be building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions for the grouping.

Here are the major decisions taken by BRICS nations
In 2009 - BRICS announced the need for a new global reserve currency.
In 2011 - BRICS formed a forum for encouraging cultural, commercial and political co-operation between BRICS nations.
In 2012 - BRICS pledged US$ 75 million to IMF conditional on IMF voting reforms.
In 2013 - BRICS nations agree to create a new global financial institution with China committing $41 billion; India, Brazil and Russia committing $18 billion   each and South Africa $5 billion towards the first pool for the new bank.
In 2014 - BRICS nations formally signed a pact to launch a $100 billion bank titled New Development Bank (NDB) and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) worth another $100 billion.
2015 - The group adopted a comprehensive 'Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership'?

What is BRICS?
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Originally, the group did not include South Africa, which was only added in 2011.

The term BRIC was first used in 2001, by Jim O'Neill, then chairman of Goldman Sachs. O'Neill would argue the importance of the original BRIC countries for the future, based on the emergence of and potential for growth that those economies showed. Originally the first four were grouped as BRIC or the BRICs, before the induction of South Africa in 2010.

The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs; all five are G-20 members. Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia currently holds the chair of the BRICS group, and hosted the group's seventh summit in July 2015.

Purpose behind the formation of BRICS
The group started with economic issues of mutual interest and the need to restructure global financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). But the agenda of BRICS widened over the years to include issues including counter-terrorism, health, science and technology, labour among other issues.