Except for Russia (Whose presence makes no sense at all), the BRIC simply share economic characteristics in that they are nations that are rapidly becoming developed, and their geopolitical resources indicate that they could one day (although China already is) be the major players on the world stage, on the same level as the US. There is a long term shift away from small, cohesive developed nations, like those in Europe and on the Pacific Rim and towards large, developed nations. Ive explained this too many times, but basically, the nature of the world shifted from favoring "dense" nations to "heavy" nations. You can see this beginning in the mid-20th century as the collassal nations of the US and USSR outclassed the former colonial empires, centered on small states.

The BRIC share common characteristics, but they are not a political or strategic block. They are four very seperate entities. So, in a way, yes, it is an economic effort by a member of BRIC. However, I dont like seeing BRIC as one thing. They often work against eachother and have very different interests and values. For example, both Russia and China primarily compete with the US, but they are not on the same side, both does so for their own reasons. India is a rather close US ally, and will be for the forseeable future, as the two's interests align perfectly on most important issues. Brazil is largely neutral to the US, it avoids drifting to close to the US, but tries not to antagonize it.

Hm, I take your point, but I was thinking of it specifically as the economic lens I had understood it to me. This subject seemed to be an expression of that particular economic class pushing for development and investment alongside and competitively with its economic counterparts in BRIC.

*to be, not to me.

While India is understood to be a member of the BRICs (essentially, the term exists to conveniently group the four largest emerging economies), there is no known coordinated BRIC economic effort to collectively secure resources. Certainly, each of these emerging economies shares a desire to move towards greater development and this naturally involves the move to acquire resources abroad. But each also shares its own particular economic and political interests, and it may not be right to speak of the emerging economies' rise in the Marxian terms of one class rising collectively to challenge the established energy consumers in the West. There are, of course, many who would disagree on that latter point.

There won't be oil to fight for given the precarious state of oil reserves across the world.

By the time India wakes up to the challenge, there will be no oil left on Earth for her to bid. :D

You are quite correct in highlighting the priority of domestic investment in Indian energy strategy. But with a population of 1.1bn and a rapidly increasing middle class, it only makes sense for India to expand its oil and gas portfolio to include foreign assets. I think the campaign that India is making to bid for contracts abroad certainly shows that India has the appetite to compete for these assets. Whether they can effectively do so from such a funding disadvantage to China is another question.