“BRIC” is an acronym for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The term was coined by Jim O’Neill, head of Goldman Sachs’ Global Economic Research Group, in his 2001 paper, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.”
   
O’Neill’s report concluded:
 
. Over the next 10 years, the weight of the BRICs and especially China in world GDP will grow, raising important issues about the global economic impact of fiscal and monetary policy in the BRICs.
. In line with these prospects, world policymaking forums should be re-organised and in particular, the G7 should be adjusted to incorporate BRIC representatives.
 
“BRIC” was given the backronym (back acronym) of “Bloody Ridiculous Investment Concept” in 2011.
 
Similar acronymns include “MINT” (Mexico + Indonesia + Nigeria + Turkey), “PIIGS” (Portugal + Italy + Ireland + Greece + Spain) and “PITS” (Phlippines + Indonesia + Thailand + Singapore).
 
   
Wikipedia: BRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. It is typically rendered as “the BRICs” or “the BRIC countries” or alternatively as the “Big Four”.
 
The acronym was coined by Jim O’Neill in a 2001 paper entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”. The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world.
 
According to a paper published in 2005, Mexico and South Korea were the only other countries comparable to the BRICs, but their economies were excluded initially because they were considered already more developed, as they were already members of the OECD.
 
Several of the more developed of the N-11 countries, in particular Turkey, Mexico, Nigeria and Indonesia, are seen as the most likely contenders to join the BRICs. Some other developing countries that have not yet reached the N-11 economic level, such as South Africa, aspire to BRIC status. Economists at the Reuters 2011 Investment Outlook Summit, held on 6–7 December 2010, dismissed the notion of South Africa joining BRIC. Jim O’Neill told the summit that he was constantly being lobbied about BRIC status by various countries. He said that South Africa, at a population of under 50 million people, was just too small an economy to join the BRIC ranks.
 
Goldman Sachs has argued that, since the four BRIC countries are developing rapidly, by 2050 their combined economies could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. These four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world’s land area and more than 40% of the world’s population.
 
Goldman Sachs did not argue that the BRICs would organize themselves into an economic bloc, or a formal trading association, as the European Union has done. However, there are some indications that the “four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a ‘political club’ or ‘alliance’”, and thereby converting “their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout”. On June 16, 2009, the leaders of the BRIC countries held their first summit in Yekaterinburg, and issued a declaration calling for the establishment of an equitable, democratic and multipolar world order. Since then they have met in Brasília in 2010 and will meet in China in 2011.
     
Investopedia
What Does Brazil, Russia, India And China - BRIC Mean?
An acronym for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. The general consensus is that the term was first prominently used in a Goldman Sachs report from 2003, which speculated that by 2050 these four economies would be wealthier than most of the current major economic powers.
 
Wikipedia: Jim O’Neill (economist)
Jim O’Neill is presently the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He was previously head of global economic research and commodities and strategy research at Goldman Sachs. He is best known for his prominent economic thesis regarding the economically related nations referred to as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). He coined the phrase in a 2001 paper entitle “The World Needs Better Economic BRICs.”
 
Goldman Sachs—BRICs
Over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China—the BRICs economies—could become a much larger force in the world economy. We map out GDP growth, income per capita and currency movements in the BRICs economies until 2050.
   
Goldman Sachs
Building Better Global Economic BRICs
GLOBAL INVESTMENT RESEARCH - November 2001
. In 2001 and 2002, real GDP growth in large emerging market economies will exceed that of the G7.
. At end-2000, GDP in US$ on a PPP basis in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) was about 23.3% of world GDP. On a current GDP basis, BRIC share of world GDP is 8%.
. Using current GDP, China’s GDP is bigger than that of Italy.
. Over the next 10 years, the weight of the BRICs and especially China in world GDP will grow, raising important issues about the global economic impact of fiscal and monetary policy in the BRICs.
. In line with these prospects, world policymaking forums should be re-organised and in particular, the G7 should be adjusted to incorporate BRIC representatives.
Building Better Global Economic BRICs, November, 2001 [PDF, 178 KB]
 
The Economist 
Global economic rankings
Follow the yellow BRIC road
Welcome to tomorrow’s economic giants
Oct 9th 2003 | from the print edition
(...)
A new study by Goldman Sachs focuses on the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Today their combined GDP (at market exchange rates) is one-eighth of the output of the G6 (Goldman leaves out Canada, which accounts for only 3% of the G7’s GDP) But the study concludes that the total output of the four economies will overtake that of the G6 in less than 40 years. Of today’s G6, only America and Japan would then still be among the world’s six biggest economies.
 
Google News Archive
23 October 2003, Toledo (OH) Blade, “Space launch a glimmer of what the future holds” by Gwynne Dyer, pg. A15, col. 2:
The Goldman Sachs paper is a sophisticated exercise in prediction that takes into account factors like population growth and changing age structures, capital accumulation and likely productivity growth, rather than just doing straight-line projections of current trends. It focuses on what it calls the “Brics”: four lower-middle-income countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—that have big populations and already have significant industrial and technological skills and resources. And it tells us where it thinks we will all be in 2050.
   
New York (NY) Times
Let Us Praise Slow Growers
By DANIEL GROSS
Published: April 17, 2005
THE next big thing in investing is what the strategists and economists at brokerage houses have taken to calling the BRIC’s - Brazil, Russia, India and China. These developing countries sport high growth rates, and produce and consume prodigious quantities of commodities, from oil to soybeans.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
BRIC economies : opportunities and challenges (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
Author: B Sujatha
Publisher: Hyderabad, India : ICFAI University Press, 2006.
Series: ICFAI books. 
Edition/Format:  Book : English : 1st ed
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Emerging economies and the transformation of international business : Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs)
Author: Subhash C Jain
Publisher: Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar, ©2006.
Series: New horizons in international business. 
Edition/Format:  Book : English
     
The Economist
The good jargon guide
Has the perfect storm reached a tipping point? Does the black swan have a long tail?
Nov 15th 2007 | from The World In 2008 print edition
(...)
BRIC-speak
It’s a big world out there but jargon helps to break it down into manageable chunks. The “BRIC countries” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is a term that emerged in 2003, courtesy of Goldman Sachs, as shorthand for the world’s biggest emerging markets. Mutations include BRICET, bringing eastern Europe and Turkey into the mix, and BRICS, which adds South Africa. Time-pressed executives have found other creative ways to save microseconds when talking about the world: why faff around saying China and India when you can say “Chindia”? Watch for more elision in 2008: with luck, growing links between Spain and Latin America will go Splat.
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark GOLDMAN SACHS BRICS
Goods and Services IC 036. US 100 101 102. G & S: FINANCIAL SERVICES, NAMELY, INVESTMENT AND ASSET ADVISORY SERVICES; FINANCIAL ANALYSIS SERVICES; FINANCIAL RESEARCH SERVICES; PROVIDING ONLINE DATABASES IN THE FIELDS OF FINANCIAL INVESTMENT, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, FINANCIAL PLANNING, FINANCIAL RESEARCH, INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND ASSET ALLOCATION
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Owner (APPLICANT) Goldman, Sachs & Co. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and The Goldman, Sachs & Co., LLC, a Delaware limited liability company LIMITED PARTNERSHIP NEW YORK 200 West Street New York NEW YORK 10282
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(Trademark)
Word Mark BRIC STRATEGY FUND
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 036. US 100 101 102. G & S: Financial services, specifically, investment services, namely asset acquisition, consultation, development and management services, pertaining to investment in Brazil, Russia, India and China. FIRST USE: 20040907. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20040907
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Serial Number 78604379
Filing Date April 7, 2005
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Original Filing Basis 1A
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Abandonment Date December 11, 2006