BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. 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 hosted the group's seventh summit in July 2015. India hosted the 8th BRICS conference in Goa on 15th and 16th Oct 2016. The term does not include countries such as South Korea, Mexico and Turkey for which other acronyms and group associations were later