Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said BRICS countries have emerged as major drivers of the global economy, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP over the past five years. Taking a swipe at the G7, he said the bloc’s share stood at only 29 per cent during the same period.

Addressing the BRICS Business Forum, Putin said BRICS nations represent more than half of the world’s population and have “dynamic, vibrant, domestic markets”. He also highlighted their growing contribution to global economic expansion.

"Over the last five years, more than 40% of the world's GDP has been produced by the BRICS countries, whereas the contribution of the so-called G7, the Great 7 - I don't know why they call that - stands at only 29%. Speaking about the growth of the world economy over the same period, we see that more than half of that growth has been accounted for by BRICS, whereas the G7 has only accounted for 18%. Why is that?” he said.

“The answer is simple; BRICS countries account for more than half of the world's population and that is why they have great, dynamic, vibrant, domestic markets," he added.

Putin referred to the G7 as the “so-called G7”. The group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. His remarks came ahead of the formal opening of the 18th BRICS Summit on Saturday.

He also criticised a proposed US bill that could impose sanctions on countries, including India, that continue to import Russian oil. Putin said sanctions and other restrictions were taking increasingly aggressive forms.

“Sometimes competition is taking some ugly forms. This ugly form is something we see even at the State level, at the government level. Sometimes the measures resorted to are of physical nature, when pipelines are being destroyed, when attempts are undertaken to block international transport corridors, to seize maritime vessels, illegal restrictions are applied, and there is also the threat of so-called secondary sanctions against those who do not want to follow someone else's interest and rather look after their own,” he said.

“More than 30,000 sanctions have been slapped on Russia, which is twice as much as the number of all sanctions against all other countries of the world combined...Against this difficult backdrop, Russia has been working actively and Russia has managed to achieve great success. We have reinforced our national sovereignty. We are developing ties with reliable, predictable partners...During the last three years, the economic growth in Russia has been superior to the world average," he added.

Putin said the global economy is undergoing “structural, deep, profound shifts”. He argued that emerging economies are replacing traditional engines of growth. He also acknowledged that older economic powers still hold strong infrastructure, technology and scientific advantages.

“These so-called old leaders are still in possession of great strengths and well-developed infrastructure, technological advantages, scientific advantages, scientific schools and so on and so forth. That's sad, this isn't the nature of things. This isn't the nature of humanity and the nature of the economy. The world is always changing," he added.

Putin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi bilaterally on Friday ahead of the BRICS Summit.