The leaders of the Brics – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – held their seventh annual summit amid deep scepticism about their once-promising growth story. While Russia may have been the host of the show, the real engine behind the summit, and the changes taking place across the emerging world, is China.

Right now, the Brics face serious cyclical and structural challenges and India seems to be the only bright spot in the club. Russia, Brazil and South Africa are either in recession or dangerously close to it. China is struggling to maintain its growth momentum as it tries to rebalance its economy. All need to implement deep and difficult structural reforms if they want to increase their long term growth potential and live up to the Brics dream as it was envisioned in the early 2000s.

Yet, over the last 15 years, the Brics story has been little short of spectacular. In 2001, when the term was coined, their combined GDP was a quarter of that of the US. Now, it is almost on a par. What was little more than a loose concept has given rise to institutions such as the Brics Bank and the Contingent Reserve Agreement. Regular dialogue is taking place among the five countries above and beyond their regular summits.